I mentioned Natuson in the forum a while ago, but this is worth another praise. Actually there were songs that I had not heard before on his myspace, so it was obviously a good thing I remembered him. A guess someone could say that these are just demos, but these songs have certain fragile beauty and down-to-earth warmness that make them already stand out. To be honest, if someone released these demos officially, I would buy the record on the day it was released. That’s how much I already like these. He might not have the strongest voice, but still his tender vocals beautifully carries the songs to my heart. The vocals are a big part of the charm. Sun and a Star might still be the most captivating song, but Only Angels and I’m Not Afraid are equally uplifting. These are great acoustic folk songs. Vulnerable, warm and oh se everlastingly beautiful.
Kaspar
Kaspar is a new band formed by two extremely talented songwriters John McGregor & Mikael Hakkarainen. Third member of the band is Tuomas Hakkarainen. They’ve already recorded their debut in New York with the help of producer Malcolm Burn (who has previously worked with people like Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Lisa Germano, Giant Sand, Patti Smith) and are currently looking for a label to release it. The record should be out and available sometime in the autumn.
Yours truly is obviously really excited about Kaspar. John McGregor’s debut album Joki was onechord.net album of the year 2005 and his second album Maa ei oo pimee reached #2 spot in 2007. And because I’ve also really enjoyed Mikael H’s previous work, I would be largely surprised if I didn’t fall in love with Kaspar’s upcoming album. Opening track of the album Phoenix is already available on their myspace if you want to take a sneak peak. I suggest that you do, because the song is absolutely marvellous. First reaction is that Bella Union should sign them up now. I think this could fit well into their catalog that contains things like Midlake and Vetiver. I don’t like terms indie folk or alternative folk much, but if you are into bands labelled as that, you definitely should check out Kaspar. Well obviously you should just check them out it you happen to like great music, because that’s what this definitely is.
So Lee: Norway
When thinking about writing a blog entry about Kaspar, I remembered So Lee and a song called Norway. It’s still one of my favourite songs from the Hakkarainen brothers. I really loved it back then in 2002 and few days ago I checked out whether they still have it online. They did and yes, my love towards this song hasn’t faded away. For me, it still sounds as great as it did then. So if you wanna hear a great guitar pop song or for example want to celebrate Norway’s victory in the eurovision song contest by listening a song called Norway, hit the link below and download it from the solee.com website.
Delay Trees & Waterloo
Delay Trees
Delay Trees is a good reason for you to start planning some sort of cake/shoe attack against me. I got this beautiful record as a promo a few months ago. I really liked it and yet I still never wrote anything. Exactly how bad person am I? Pretty bad at least in this case. Lazyness is a bad excuse. Before my guilty conscience drives me insane, I try to make amends with this quick blog entry.
The Soft Construction EP is full of insightful and tender pop music. It’s a very beautifully crafted and thoughtfully arranged little record. A few times it almost becomes too ambitious for me, because I prefer simple things and simple songs. But even for me, it never gets too far and the core of the song is never lost. It remains in your heart. A lot of high profile pop releases will struggle to reach the level of this self-released beauty.
Delay Trees Website
Delay Trees at myspace
Waterloo
Guilty conscience part 2. I’ve also known Waterloo for quite a long time, but I think I have never mentioned them at onechord.net (their previous life form The Dance did feature though). I’m not entirely sure about the name Waterloo, but there’s no worries in the music department. There are no official releases available, but you can listen and download songs from their myspace. Maybe that one real killer song is still missing, but this is really good guitar pop nevertheless. Looking forward for more.