Sometimes I go on in binges where I listen to tons of Finnish music. Not a specific band, sometimes maybe a specific album but usually just going through the various Finnish albums in my collection. You see, whilst the Finnish rock scene is in the end pretty shite and/or boring outside a few exceptions, the pop scene in the small Northern land is full of intriguing bands who brings their own, characteristic touches to the world of softer but by no means weaker music.

Under the jump I’ll give a quick guide to some of my favourites that are a permanent part of my binges.

And click the images for Myspace links!

HUSKY RESCUE

Take a touch of Air, replace the overly French feminine male vocals with an actual female and instead of French quirkiness take a lot of Nordic chillness. Husky Rescue, voilá.

Whilst the Huskies have their more going songs, their heart is deeply set in ethereal, chilled beauty. Even their more energetic songs are drenched deep in thick, morning dew atmosphere. They’re one of the few bands from Finland that can said to be truly cool.

So far the Huskies have got two albums out, 2004’s Country Falls and 2007’s Ghost Is Not Real. There’s no staggering differences between the two, simply some logical evolution. In both of their incarnations, Husky Rescue offer some wonderful Nordic chillness. And hey, in “Summertime Cowboy” they’ve got one of the best summer pop songs ever made.

Summertime Cowboy (from Country Falls)
Sunset Drive (from Country Falls)

KEMOPETROL

When Kemopetrol came out in the beginning of 2000, they were something completely different. Their way of handling pop music was quite unique in the Finnish music scene of the time. It even attracted my attention and I wasn’t the mega music fan as I am today back then. In my opinion, they could be considered the progenitors of what the Finnish pop scene is today.

The debut, Slowed Down, is somewhat of a modern Finnish classic. It’s certainly an excellent album and as refreshing today as it was back then. It’s also their tightest, most complete collection of songs. Like many bands who create their apparent classics on the first try, it’s become Kemopetrol’s sad legacy that none of their subsequent efforts have ever gained the critical success of Slowed Down. And true, none of them are as good either, yet none are true disappointments either. 2002’s Everything’s Fine continues much in the same line as Slowed Down but in tad more streamlined way, 2004’s Play for Me is a slow grower and what might at first sound like a flogging, uninspired batch of not too interesting ballads reveals itself to be a thoroughly charming and subtle album, even if not as exciting as the other albums. 2006’s Teleport is the only one I haven’t heard yet and I can only base my opinion on samples and a few full songs, but the sudden retro blast to 80’s disco seems to have worked fine for the band.

Kemopetrol are by no means a perfect, stellar band. Laura Närhi’s vocals are as frustrating in her occasional pronounciation problems as they are in their instant charm, the band’s lyrics balance between cringeworthy pop clichés and intriguing little tidbits, and none of their albums can fully support themselves (even Slowed Down suffers from the rather pointless “Teeth”). But at their best – their first two albums – Kemopetrol give out a world of refreshing and instantly catchy music goodness.

Disbelief (from Slowed Down)
Windmills (from Everything’s Fine)

REGINA

Regina came from nowhere on their 2005 debut Katso maisemaa. Incredibly naïvistic yet oddly witty lyrics sung by what sounds like a little girl, backed by cheapish 80’s synths and drum machines – what the hell? Katso maisemaa didn’t end up being just a quick-burning novelty album however, as it offered just the right amount of depth to be intriguing while still staying goofy and lightweight while backed by an extremely strong and hook-filled songwriting that gained extra staying power from the quirky synths used. Regina sounded completely different and amazingly charming in an instant.

It wasn’t to stay however. Understandably, a band can’t rely on the same gimmicks forever and thus needs to show they can do different things. In Regina’s case, 2007’s sophomore album Oi miten suuria voimia! ditched the novelty synths and insta-hooks, being a far subtler and ‘artistic’ album. In turn, it ended up losing a lot of the charm that makes Katso maisemaa such a continuously amazing album. Voimia is still nice and contains a couple of strong killers (check out the lead single “En tiennyt että osaan tanssia”) but overall is… disappointing.

Only future will tell if Regina ends up being a one-album wonder or if the sophomore album was just a temporary lapse but one thing is for sure – be sure to check out Katso maisemaa.

Pidä varasi, tyttö! (from Katso maisemaa)
Katso maisemaa (from Katso maisemaa)

THE CRASH

Like many other bands discussed in this entry, The Crash came from seemingly nowhere and charmed hearts with their debut – in this case there was a commercial success as well, as the fragile ballad “Sugared” conquered charts and radio waves around the country. Unlike most of the other bands discussed here, they didn’t do anything special or different. They simply took the British way of making great pop music and made their own version of it.

The Crash’s is a huge love it or hate it kind of thing. Whilst their choice to make deliberately soft and, well, poppy music is certainly a reason to cause such a rift, a lot of the whole shizzle is to do with Teemu Brunila’s vocals. His overpronounciation, sometimes overnasal, always over-something voice which seems to just get more and more over the top with each album divides opinions. I, as a fan of quirky voices, love it. You might not. Be warned.

The music itself? Well, it hasn’t changed much over the years. The Crash do wear their hearts on their sleeves and make pop music and that’s all. It doesn’t try to be anything else. Their albums have their own differences but none of them really break the basic mould – the largest standout is their third album Melodrama with its massive 80’s influence (what is it with Finnish pop and the 80’s anyway?) but the familiar recipe stays mostly the same.

So if you want sugary, highly infectious and completely non-pretentious pop music, you know who to check.

Sugared (from Comfort Deluxe)
Star (from Wildlife)

VIOLA

(no myspace link for these guys as I cannot bloody find one)

I already discussed Viola and their masterpiece Wonderabilia a bit in a past article, but might as well talk about the rest of the band’s works.

The debut Tearcandy is the group’s only full album as a four-piece. It sets the basics of Viola – stargazing, hopelessly romantic pop music. On Tearcandy, it’s presented as a more organic package thanks to the whole full band thing. It’s a grower with a couple of instant killers. It’s dreamy and it’s got a big heart and in the end it’s very, very lovely.

Anything Can Stop Us, the first album as a duo, introduces the synthiness of what seems to have become a part of Viola’s current sound. Unlike the full-blown synthpop of Wonderabilia, Anything still features live instruments and particularly a guitar is in a heavy role. Synth rock would be more accurate than synth pop here. Anything however does stumble in the sense that it doesn’t hold as well as the band’s other albums. It’s good, but some of the songs you instantly fall in love with begin to lose their appeal quite quickly and whilst you’ll certainly like them on further listenings, they never really get back the power they had before the burn out. This mainly seems to happen with the more rockier efforts (though the slightly Mew-esque “Breathtaker” is as breathtaking as ever), while the softer and quirkier songs turn out to be the album’s true standouts: the epic “Utopia Frailway”, chilled “The Deadweights”, weirdo beach lounge disco groove “Shamateur.”

Also worth mentioning is the remix album Melancholydisco which gave the first hints of the band’s subsequent synthier incarnation. The remixes themselves are rather nice and contain a couple of great ‘uns, but the real worth for the money is in the four original tracks. The gothdisco of “Sad Eyed Disco Dancers” and singalong pop goodness “Strange Delights” are two of the band’s greatest tracks even.

Lovelights (from Tearcandy)
I Don’t Know How to Party (from Anything Can Stop Us)

Tags: Husky Rescue, Kemopetrol, Regina, The Crash, Viola

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Band Ramble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.