Tsembla is Finland-based multi-instrumentalist Marja Johansson. There's a kind of deconstructed, meditative magic to "Love Potion," a track from her new full-length, Terror and Healing. The excess of sonic components—car horn samples, garbled chanting, synth sounds that rattle like change in a cup—suggest Johansson is fascinated by melody, but not super concerned with it. "It's the last song I made for the record and it's kind of my favorite," she told FADER over email. "It was overdubbed with my brother Emil's bass and my partner Niko-Matti's guitar."
On January 25th, Tsembla is performing in Los Angeles at International Mystery, a day-long festival co-curated by Real Estate guitarist and Ducktails' mastermind Matt Mondanile and Skaters' Spencer Clark. The full lineup includes a bunch of experimentally-minded performers from all over the Earth, like bizarro Italian rapper Dracula Lewis, American dream-folk songwriter Itasca, and way more; grab tickets here.
Photo credit: Pauli Laasonen
