In an era of hollow simulation, Work and Play arrives as a document of breath, wood, and skin.
Recorded between 2024 and 2025, the album finds Sami Aleksi Keinänen trading the synthesized lo-fi nostalgia of his earlier work for a sprawling, organic live sound. Anchored by the battered resonance of his father’s old Landola acoustic guitar, Keinänen leads an expansive eleven-member ensemble — including mainstay Tampere jazz cats, the percussionists of the afrobeat/fusion band Maajo, and a three-piece vocal choir — through six tracks of playful rhythmic explorations.
It's a soulful testament of the power of the collective, where the loose-limbed spirit of jazz meets the rhythmic sensibilities of West African pop and the polished melodies of late-80s sophisti-pop.
