Tag: finland

Soliti Music Sign Team Play

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Our Finnish friends at Soliti always uncover great gems; we’ve most recently fawned over bands like Pintandwefall…but, now we’ve got Team Play to be excited about. The duo is made up of friends Minja Koskela and Tapio Viitasaari, two dear friends who love writing songs about human existence. At times, this song’s stark nature creates this sort of elegance, a brand of folk that feels as fragile as it is moving. Both singers wrap their vocals atop one another, building this musical texture that provides stunning depth, enabling the project to take pop music to new heights. The label promises that there’s a new album planned for summer, but we’ll keep you informed as we hear more!

The Here Todays Drop April Single

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You ever wake up and you just know the day’s going to be a certain way? Well, I woke up today thinking we’d spend a lot of time in that sort of wistful Spring mode, looking towards a break from the mundane…so it’s great that there’s a new track from Finland’s The Here Todays. My favorite side of the group comes to the surface here, as one fuzzy guitar chugs away, like your little brother/sister jamming out in their room; you can hear it through the walls, but your drawn to something else. That something else, aside from the neon-lights of the vocals, it the other guitar exploding through the heavy walls like fireworks on a dark skyline. But, like fireworks, the song leaves you with that smoky haze, drifting, like your mind, across the night.

Pintandwefall Drop Last Minutes Single

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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if Pintandwefall were from the States (or maybe the UK) then they’d be an absolute darling on all the cool kid blogs. I’ve been trying to hype them up as a one-man show here, but hopefully this new single will grab you enough to show you what its all about. It hits you with this immediacy upon pressing play, and there’s this playful indie style coming forth that I dove right into. Then the song sort of erupts in a new direction, bringing in a more soulful feel to things, almost like the band magically inherited Nashville vibes. The band are releasing Seventh Baby on February 25th via Soliti.

Rules Share The Ghost Single

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Finnish outfit Rules have been delivering hyper-literary influenced pop tunes since 2000 (aside from that blissed out Weezer cover, of course!). They return today with a Henry James influenced ditty, and a new member, Oskari Haltsi, adding his production and vocals to the mix. We start off in familiar territory, with a quick euphoric burst and the distinctive vocals. But, the track, playing upon the concept of duality between a ghost and human, offers these little elegant peaks and valleys, mixing in the abstract dreaminess and the pulsing hook that captures the listener. No word on a new album just yet, but always great to hear this bunch bring new tunes to the table (courtesy of Soliti).

Pintandwefall Announce Seventh Baby

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Finnish outfit Pintandwefall, who dropped the stunning Your Stories Baby in 2020, return with their 7th album, aptly titled Seventh Baby. I love how the new tune opens with this heavy drum stomp and ringing guitar line creating this jagged wall of noise. Once the vocals catch up, they bring this powerful ballad feel, soaring boldly and directly. We get a quick glimpse at the chorus, but it quickly gets yanked away to let the tune go back to its core. You can feel the track picking up around the 2 minute mark, building vocal textures on top of one another as the song’s title is layered with various tones atop one another; it’s a feeling that’s likely going to have your stomach churning and turning in the best way. Seventh Baby will be released via Soliti Music on February 25th.

Verandan Share Night Single

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With a few singles under their belt in 2021, Finnish outfit Verandan have one final tune to close out the year, appearing on a compilation for Spanish label Kocliko. This tune doesn’t stray too far from the band’s sound, creating this natural softness that leaves tons of open space for reflective notes; it does feel like its something Phil Collins would have had his hands in crafting. Ville’s voice is just magical here, and I can’t get enough of each little note as it curls around the dense musical underbelly. The group are working on a new album for next year, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that news!

Color Dolor Announce Blurry Things

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I was hooked the moment this pulsing note opens the new single from Finland’s Color Dolor; it’s got this driving nature, yet evolves into this more thoughtful vibe…and that’s just one musical element here. With the band’s announcement that they’ll be dropping Blurry Things this November, they’ve created this really superb pop tune to work with it. Stina’s voice seems calm, though she seems to be fighting with the notes in the chorus; this seems to allude to the influence of coping with anxiety that she claims influenced the track. Cool vibes on this new tune; they drop Blurry Things via Soliti on November 26th.

Finnish Shoegaze from The Here Todays

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If you follow our site, or pop in a time or two, you might be aware of my affinity for Finnish tunes, mostly due to my friend Nick over at Soliti. Keeping an eye on that scene, I came across The Here Todays, who’ve just released this stellar new single for you fans of the modern shoegaze. Everything about this song just feels heavy, like the weight of the world crushing you, or in my case, a 3 year old sitting on your chest; the drums are pounding, smashing the sonic walls while your hit with wave after wave of heavy distortion from the guitars. It’s meant to disorient you, until the hauntingly soft vocal notes come and tie you to this Earth, tethering you to wade through the perfect balance of noisy ambiance and cool melody. Enjoy.

Astrid Swan Shares New Single, Luxuries

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It’s probably fair to say that Astrid Swan doesn’t get a fair shake outside of Europe, but I hope by shining the tiniest light (on all 8 of our readers!), one of them will find her work meaningful. At first, the song takes on this delicate mood, Astrid’s voice soaring over a bare bit of piano. Carefully, you can start to hear some accompaniment creep up from the distance, plucked strings and backing vocals; it helps to uplift the spirit, which sort of coincides with the thematic elements that course through this song (and the LP); a cancer survivor, Astrid says this song is about “knowing death is near, and living life to the fullest while idealizing the state where one does not worry about each day and season because it may well be the last.” Her new album D/Other will be out on October 8th via Soliti.

Astrid Swan Announces D/Other

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Award winning artist Astrid Swan has already established herself as one of the strongest songwriters in Finland, but with her new album, D/Other, she wraps up a study on being a mother…from the perspective of both daughter and mother. The latest single’s a bright pop song, using these light little piano bits and steady drumming to give the song a bit of bounce. I really love the chorus here, with the perfect vocal accompaniment helping raise the melodic. This song’s got a very traditional pop structure, which leads us to believe that the whole of the album will be filled with more charm than we can handle, not to mention that it will include string work/arrangements from the heralded Owen Pallet. Look for D/Other on October 8th via Soliti.

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