OCTOPUS SYNG – But Love Is the Song We Hunger Anyway (2026, LP/CD, Pigeon Cult) 

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Pigeon Cult

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Black Vinyl, 200 copies

Format: CDR, Album, 50 copies

Release Date: 23 Aug 2026

Four decades after playing his very first gig, Jaire Pätäri is still making strange little journeys through the psychedelic underground. His one-man-band, Octopus Syng, has been around since 1999, quietly building its own peculiar universe somewhere between psychedelic pop, rock, folk and experimental music. I already had the pleasure of travelling through one of its more twisted corners with “Insanity Is The Song We Sing” (2024) [Review], an album I described at the time as a kind of raw, DIY “bedroom-psych” experience, full of distortion, darkness, isolation and wonderfully strange ideas.

Now Jaire returns with “But Love Is The Song We Hunger Anyway”, the 8th full-length Octopus Syng album, and this time the trip seems to have a slightly different destination. He himself describes it as happier and less chaotic than its predecessor, but don’t expect the Octopus to suddenly become tame! Everything here remains firmly under Jaire’s personal control: he wrote all the songs, arranged them, played all the instruments, recorded and mixed the album, created the artwork, and released it himself. A true one-man-band operation, with only two guests entering the octopus’ strange little universe: Ilo Ohman on all female vocals and Santtu Laakso of Astral Magic adding theremin to the end of the opening track.

Recorded between Jaire’s rehearsal room and home in Helsinki during 2025–2026, this is another homemade journey where the limitations of a bedroom studio become part of the charm rather than something to hide. And there is something beautifully circular about the whole story: the album was released on 23 August, exactly 40 years after Jaire played his first-ever gig at Kansantalo in Kuusankoski on 23 August 1986. Forty years later, the journey continues. The equipment may have changed, the sounds may have evolved, and the madness may have softened a little, but the essential spirit remains the same: make the music yourself, follow your own strange path, and let the sounds fly wherever they want to go. So, once again, let’s enter the Octopus Syng universe and see where this particular tentacle takes us…

“But Love Is The Song We Hunger Anyway” contains 10 tracks, 6 on the first and the remaining four on the second side of the LP album. “Space Observer” opens the album with a strong Space attitude filtered through the unmistakable Octopus Syng psych lens. This is lo-fi bedroom psychedelia, drenched in Space music, slowly building its own peculiar atmosphere before the vocals finally appear during the last minute and a half. The ending then becomes psychedelically weird and almost pompous, leaving the track hanging somewhere between homemade Space Rock and cosmic bedroom experimentation. “Secrets Live In The Shadows” follows with a completely different but equally mysterious mood. Only 94 seconds long, it feels almost like a soundtrack fragment, with a dark, psych-inspired background that could easily have been written for some obscure 60s/70s spy movie. Very cinematic, shadowy and intriguing, it disappears almost as quickly as it arrived. “I Have To Talk In Symbols” brings us back to the lo-fi bedroom-psych territory, but with a more adventurous and complex texture. There is something slightly creepy in its melodic development, while the pompous arrangement gives the whole thing a strange theatrical quality. “Hidden Society” continues exploring similar Psych territory, although this time I can hear a distant 80s Dark Wave aura lurking behind the music. There is a poppy dark edge here, while Jaire’s storytelling-style singing adds another dimension, almost as if he is narrating some obscure tale from the underground. “Butterflies” is one of those wonderfully odd Octopus Syng moments that can send my musical references in completely unexpected directions. For some unexplained reason, this one immediately made me think of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, as if it could have somehow escaped from one of their albums, while its Spacey Pop elements add another colourful layer to the already peculiar mixture. “Let The Harmony Come” dives much deeper into the dark New Wave atmosphere of the 80s, but Psychedelia is never far away. A marching beat keeps the whole thing moving, while Pop, New Wave and Psych are blended together with a distinctly cinematic feeling. In many ways it brings us back to the lo-fi, slightly pompous psych atmosphere established during the opening tracks, but with a stronger rhythmic backbone. 

Turning the record over, “Chaos Of Twilight” takes us into darker territory once again, using the same homemade bedroom-psych soundscape but pushing it further into the shadowy corners of Psychedelia. It feels more nocturnal, and more mysterious. “Life Is Strange” changes direction, beginning with an electroacoustic guitar and immediately suggesting some kind of lonely folk tune. It has the feeling of a ballad performed by a solitary troubadour, emotional without becoming sentimental, but the strangely arranged musical backdrop prevents it from ever becoming a conventional folk song. “Happiness” brings back that peculiar underground 80s aura, flirting simultaneously with Bedroom Pop, Psych and Space music, while an intense futuristic edge gives the track a surprisingly cinematic character. There is something almost like a homemade soundtrack to an imaginary future here, filtered through Jaire’s unmistakable DIY approach. Finally, “Love And Light” closes the album on a somewhat more positive note. Optimistic without losing the weirdness, it blends Psych, Rock and Pop, and for some strange reason I kept hearing echoes of those happier, dreamier Mazzy Star moments from the early 90s. But then, somewhere underneath, another connection appears — this time with late-60s West Coast Sunshine Psychedelic Pop. A rather unexpected combination, perhaps, but exactly the kind of unlikely musical collision that makes an Octopus Syng journey so interesting. 

Another strange and personal journey from the Octopus Syng universe. Lo-fi Psych, Space, Folk, Pop and echoes of the 80s all tangled together in Jaire Pätäri’s homemade sonic world. Less chaotic than its predecessor, perhaps, but still wonderfully unpredictable. A very personal trip — and you’re advised to book a ticket… TimeLord Michalis 

Tracklist

Links

Listen / Buy through OCTOPUS SYNG Bandcamp