For the June offering of Viola’s decision to release a new free song each month, we’re getting some really special and different. This year, and June in particular, marks the special occasion of the Finnish stargazy popsters turning full ten years. As a celebration of a full decade’s full of work, the duo gives us “A Decade”, an eight-minute tour de force that not only goes through the band’s history lyrically but also musically.

The lyrics are the band’s history directly, dripping with band member names, descriptions of events, references to album names, you name it. The music follows the theme: starting with a demo-like, minimal touch (the early days), turning into an energetic rocker with live drums and wistful string lines (the band’s debut where the lineup was filled with an actual drummer), before changing into a synth-disco dance hit just as the band first crafts their first Melancholydisco remix album and turns into a duo heading towards a more synth-driven direction. And then after a short breakdown (where the now-duo pays respect to their passed away friend), the song’s final two minutes are spent listing every single person and band ever associated with the group as grand thank you. A moment that could possibly be cornily heart-string tugging is ingeniously turned into booty-shakingly groovy club breakout in a fashion much like the new tracks of last year’s Melancholydisco 2.

In short, it’s nothing short of brilliance and it’s a wonderful celebration track. Happy birthday Viola! And don’t forget, you can get the group’s whole discography for free from here.

If you live in Finland or are a hardcore fan ready to do some traveling, other interesting news: Viola will be doing their traditional Viola’s Day celebratory concert once again on June 3rd in Helsinki, but this time the idea is to dedicate each part of the three-section concert for one of the group’s main studio albums. More details here.

MP3: A Decade

(I swear I’ll change the header image for next month’s offering)

Tags: Viola

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Song 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.