Scandipop as if played from the top of the Scottish Highlands, with an occasional synth or two, thrown in just for the twee of it. Even though the superb cover-art suggests a kind of a more retro-ish feel, which might as well be just my own mop-topped imagination running wild, what these Finish popsters are mostly on about is contemporary sounding power-pop … knee-deep in the mid-‘60 legacy though.
Besides the most audible reference to these ears being The BMX Bandits (w/Francis McDonald taking overt the lead vocals from the main Bandit Duglas T. Stewart), the ones that got me hooked on are the following. “Searching” for the perfect jangle to be stuck into your ears like “needles and pins”, doesn’t get much better than Hanging On To A Bad Dream, and however unusual it may sound from the Scandinavian standpoint, First One On The Beach provides us with a genuine surf ride and a perfect “summer challenge”.
The overall summer-ish vibe gets interrupted, by way of early Velvet Underground, with the slightly moodier Mockingbird, being nothing less of a challenge itself, while the pair that kind of sticks out for me, are Keep Me As A Secret and Better Times Comin’ Up, with a jazzy touch to them, recalling a bit of a Zombies-like feel, along with some cool latino-trumpets putting the whole sound on the right “trackarack”.
In case that the Northern Britain isn’t North-enough for you, this could be the perfect destination.
[Released by Bone Voyage 2008]
Be the first to comment