Welcome, sunshine! Finland has awakened after many months of cold, rain and snow so it’s time to enjoy a cool drink outdoors while listening to a new edition of the world’s greatest mixtape. This month it carries 36 new songs from each corner of the world. The haunting folk of Phenomenal Creature represents Finland with a song off their great new album.
When he is not playing classic 60s rock and roll with the band Volter (and releasing one of my favourites albums last year), singer-songwriter Jani Tuovinen (aka Jann Wilde) uses the moniker The Saturnettes to make some new wave, synth-pop music. Back in 2011, The Saturnettes released a very fun debut album and now Jani and the band return with a new video, which is the first taste of a follow-up album to be release sometime during this year.
Come August power pop band The Lieblings will release their debut album Take Us To Your Leader on the always interesting label GAEA Records. The first single just hit the net and if it is any indication of what the album contains, we are in for a party-dance-sign-along-bubblegum-pop treat with fuzz on top. This new song comes with a video in which you may recognise the faces (and butts) of friends and relatives in the Finnish pop scene, all of them singing and dancing to the rhythm of this delicious two-minute pop song.
Five-piece folk band Phenomenal Creature has recently released its debut album, a humble collection of acoustic songs rooted somewhere in the Finnish forests. The songs sound rustic with a very dark bluesy feeling enhanced by lead singer Joona Mäkelä distinct vocals, which are nicely accompanied by female harmonies. Songbird showcases a great pop melody, but the rest of the album is very diverse in its arrangements and rich in detail, from the sing-along chorus of opener Perfect Impressions to the primal rock of Petrified Forest. A very compelling debut.
Robin Pahlman has travelled the world to reinvent himself as a songwriter. After being in bands like Agent Kooper and Carmen & The Devil, and playing anything from punk rock to bluegrass, it took a stint in Seattle to start writing little acoustic songs on his own. Now, based in Vienna, Austria, Robin prepares his first solo album, which hopefully will be later this year.
The artwork for the debut single is quirky as a Journey record cover, but Miss Lonelyhearts is a tender and intimate acoustic song, with a emotive crescendo built up using smooth trumpet sounds and banjo licks, much in the spirit of early Iron & Wine. Beautiful song.