Member:
avestin
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by avestin)
Date:
7/3/2009
Format:
CD (Album)
Viima releases in 2009 their second album, Kahden Kuun Sirpit (Two Crescents), with a new lineup in which only two members are left from the previous album. The new people in the band are drummer Mikko Väärälä, vocalist, flutist and saxophonist Hannu Hiltula and bassist Aapo Honkanen. Continuing from the first album is keyboard player Kimmo Lähteenmäki. The album contains four songs, one instrumental piece (“Sukellus”) and an epic title track. This title track is about the history of the city of Turku (where the band rehearses) and also about an individual's life in the city. As the band sings in Finnish, it is a welcome gesture that the booklet has translation into English of the lyrics alongside the original Finnish version.
We start with “Autio Pelto” which resonates the sound of the previous album with its charming flute in the foreground and the guitar backing it up while the keyboards administers a soothing background base line to support its ‘comrades’. The folk elements are still here (though to a lesser extent than the previous album) continuing the ‘sympholk-prog’ style of the previous album, though this time it sounds less cheerful than before, but as rich sounding. Gone are the female vocals of Päivi Kylmänen and enter the male vocals of Hannu Hiltula. This is to me unfortunate as I thought her vocals were superb and gave much life and vitality to the music. It could have added a great deal here, supplying another layer of delightful vocal layer to the mix. Hannu's vocals, while doing the job well, are in places somewhat weak, as in the last song, the title track “Kahden Kuun Sirpit” (around the two minute mark, where he sings almost without backing instruments but as for the rest of the song it's fine). But overall, he does a pretty good work. In addition he does a fine work playing the flute and saxophone.
The music is beautiful and emotional-sounding. It is not over the top and doesn't get too sophisticated but it is sufficiently intricate and very captivating to have me listen to it attentively and repeatedly. One point where it gets quite dynamic and thrilling is in “Unohtunut”, towards the end of the fifth minute where a lightning effect springs in and the guitar gets more vocal than usual and yet even here restraint is noticeable as the pace doesn't pick up and they could have gone for a very loud segment, but instead remain faithful to their style. Not to say they don't get loud enough; certainly there are peaks in the music and high points reached but these climaxes sound carefully controlled to me.
On a different note, Viima continues to provide attractive melodies and develop them nicely, shifting slightly to introduce it from different sides, adding layers to it in the form of playing it differently or adding instruments. A good example is the third track “Sukellus”. This track, an instrumental piece, has a gorgeous transition in its middle and on the other side it becomes another gorgeous theme in which the saxophone played by Hiltula has a spellbinding lead line, which is then picked up by the guitar. This track reminded me of Camel for some reason (as did parts of their previous album); perhaps the way the guitar is played and its mellow sound and the soothing effect the music has on me.
The title track, an ambitious piece of almost twenty three minutes shows Viima's strong 70's symphonic prog influence while introducing elements of fusion alongside what some might call ‘experimental’ approach, but to me is them trying new ways to enrich their sound (this is only found in the beginning of the song). This song also features a string quartet that adds to the attractiveness of this piece. The song becomes minimalistic sounding at times with a few instruments playing at the same time. I feel that here a combination of vocalists would have done wonders to make this sound better: a high-pitched vocalist and a low-pitched one. But aside from that, the music itself is magnificent; going from quiet and as mentioned minimalistic sounding, to rich and surrounding. This piece requires repeated listening to absorb it all and to follow its multi-part structure. Overall, it's a fine accomplishment, but I wish there were more dynamic and faster segments in here. As for the music itself, the melodies are, as usual, compelling and spacious and the musicianship as good. The climax at minute twenty-one is highly emotional and evocative. This is one thing that Viima excels at.
A fine album that I enjoy listening to and come back for more; different somewhat than the previous one, but carries on with many of the elements and sounds found there and builds on that to create a new listening experience in this album. Gorgeous melodies are abundant, beautiful instrumental passages, rich sounding and daydream inducing. Recommended.
Member:
rarebird
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by rarebird)
Date:
7/13/2009
Format:
CD (Album)
This is the second album by this Finnish group and the line-up has changed a bit. They now have a male singer (Hannu Hiltula), who also plays flute and soprano sax. According to the information in the booklet, he also played some keyboards on this album. Besides, there is a new bass-player and they have a separate drummer, who also played keyboards and some guitar on the last song. On the debut, the drums were played by keyboard-player Kimmo Lähteenmäki.
Though the line-up has changed, the music hasn't really. Those who loved the debut, will also love this new album, unless they have troubles with the new vocalist, that is. The music still can be described as something in the vein of Genesis or Jethro Tull, though it definitely doesn't sound like a clone of either. The group uses a fair amount of traditional keyboards, like organ, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron (played by 3 members of the group) and analog synthesizers.
Again the music transcends one to the 70's. The CD could just as easy have been released on vinyl, with 3 tracks on side one, and one long track on side two. The lyrics are again in Finnish, though the booklet also gives an English translation.
The opening-track “Autio pelto” (Barren field) is written by the new singer, with words from someone outside the group. It's a beautiful song with a long instrumental intro with some nice flute and guitar and beautiful melodies. It reminds me a tiny little bit on Jethro Tull around the time they recorded Songs from the wood. Just before the vocals kick in, there is a short synthesizer-solo. A large part of the song is instrumental.
The second track “Unohtunut” (Forgotten) is also written by Hannu Hiltula and again someone who isn't a member of the band wrote the lyrics. The music starts solemn with church-organ, a Mellotron choir and electric guitar. After this intro the music gets quieter, with acoustic guitar and a Mellotron flute (at least that is what I think. The vocals are solemn and we hear some piano and Mellotron strings. At the end of the vocal part there is a short outburst of electric guitar, after which we hear a piano and some bird-sounds. The second half of the song also has some nice church-organ-soloing, over the piano accompaniment. The song ends very solemn, like it begun, with church-organ and Mellotron. It has a very epic feel, with a lot of variation in instrumentation and mood. At times it reminds me a little bit on early Kayak.
“Sukellus” (The dive) is an instrumental track, written by guitarist Mikko Uusi-Oukari, who also plays Mellotron on this track. It opens with some nice soprano sax, by Hannu Hiltula. It also has some beautiful synthesizer-soloing, some Mellotron-strings and a soprano sax solo.
The album ends with the impressive epic title-track, which is written by drummer Mikko Väärälä. It opens solemnly, with Mellotron-strings and solemn vocals. After this opening, the music gets lighter. Later the song gets a bit fusion-like with Fender Rhodes piano, followed by a beautiful synthesizer-solo. The music is a bit quiet at times, with some more synthesizer-soli and a string-quartet, though I have to say the string-quartet very much takes a back seat.
If you like some traditional symphonic rock, with memorable melodies, this might be for you.
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