Eldanka Music 2018
Rusty Treasures
On the crest of a wave again, Suomi foursome serve up a surf-rock classic.
Although Finland has its fair share of high tides, it’s hard to imagine anyone hanging ten in the Baltic, but this band couldn’t care less: almost a decade down the line from their debut album, the quartet delivered a follow-up: a dozen of precious cuts that tap into the heart of hotter climate. Without deviating too much from a surf idiom, the ensemble go for delicate twang, rather than rumble, which gives the players enough freedom to introduce other elements to deceptively regular pieces. Factor in humor – a rare presence on instrumental tracks – and “Rusty Treasures” is bound to warm up even the coldest of days.
Footstomping to the baroque-tinctured “Treasure” may feel optional yet ignoring the exquisite mariachi flavor of “Paranta Beach” must be impossible, and while the elegiac opener “SUP Rider” (that’s “stand up paddleboard” not “What’s up?”) throws an arc towards “Jopo – The First Ride” with an effervescent weave of Mika Jämsä and Rasmus Tammik’s guitars, it’s “Threnody For My Pet Pony” that runs the full spectrum of the collective’s creative scope by marrying funereal march to light bursts of memories. The playfulness of Mauri Haapamäki’s bass spicing up the spank of “Slap Me” is bittersweet, too, whereas the reggae-tinged “SF Surf” – which Janne Torvikoski’s drums lead to delirium – will bring about ecstatic catharsis.
High on expectancy, “The Promise” has filigree acoustic strum turn into electric reverie, a dream that wraps “November” in retrofuturistic foil, so the frozen beauty of “Springfields” should come as no surprise: there’s “tide” in “Yuletide” after all. A gem of an album indeed.
****4/5
