I was thinking about Finnish band Koria Kitten Riot the other day. They're on a hiatus at the moment and don't think they have any immediate plans, but bass player Klasu popped up with a new single (it's on our Nordic Indie Playlist), and it happily sent me down memory lane, one of my favourite Finnish bands thanks to their easy going melodies and whimsical lyrics.
Anyway as if by magic lead singer Antti from KKR suddenly popped up waving a brand new album, fully released and available on all bad streaming platforms near you. Now I'm not going to say too much about it because I am slightly limited lyrically (it's in Finnish) and I know you're all waiting with excitement to hear whether UK, Ukraine or Georgia (yes, Georgia) will win Eurovision after my features predicting the winner 5 years on the trot.
But this has been such a lovely treat to listen to this week. A. Reikko has this natural warmth in his Indie Pop styled songwriting that makes each track a joy, from opening song 'Vuosi', the guitar driven 'Minnesota' through to the irresistible 'Uni motelleista'. 'Hallelujah' is upbeat and catchy, whilst 'Satelliitti' reminds me of those thoughtful KKR tracks that I used to like so much - I really need to find and translate the lyrics to some of these songs, Antti always has something interesting to say. But they all feel upbeat, genial and even kindly sounding (if that’s possible) and 'Joutomaa' is possibly my favourite of the lot.
And it's not just me that likes it. One Chord To Another, the Finnish music blog that's been writing about music online since before the interweb was invented, described it as 'brilliant', and he definitely knows his stuff too. I really hope that this gets the attention it deserves in Finland, and I hope he'll get writing some more music pretty soon.
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