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Written in fRoots issue 378, Dec 2014

 
TUOMAS LOGRÉN
Yövesi
Tuomas Logrén/Sibelius Academy TLCD001 (2014)

Finnish guitarists are usually influenced by American music, but few have much knowledge of, or interest in, Finland’s folk music. Kaustinen’s fiddle music scene, too, has picked up some ideas from America, while not losing – indeed enhancing and developing - its individuality.
     Tuomas Logrén is the self-effacing guitarist, mandolinist and dobro-ist in the shadows of the back row of Frigg, visually obscured by its wall of fiddlers. Out of the public glare, he’s been quietly putting together this impressive album.
     It’s as if Finnish folk-song had infused the guitar, banjo, dobro and mandolin world of Doc Watson way back in settler times, and now come back to Finland for a freshen-up.
     It opens with a loping, old-timey version of the lullaby Tuu Tuu in which Logrén sings and plays guitar, banjo and mandolin joined by fiddler Matti Pitkänen, Petri Hakala on mandolin and bassist Elina Lappalainen. Onward into nifty original instrumentals and novel string-band settings of well-known traditional Finnish songs, bringing in more musicians including Aili Järvelä and others on vocals, Eero Grundström on harmonica and harmonium, and accordionist Teija Niku.
     Shining throughout is Logrén’s assured command of the frets, be they of guitar, mandolin, banjo, or dobro. It’s not a showcase of flash or technique, though, it’s a beautifully-paced flow that brings together Finnish and American music with an unforced naturalness that sounds like they were always conjoined.
     I suppose Ghost Riders In The Sky in Finnish, a bit of fun but not the meat of the album, might attract the “ho ho, those Finns!” jokey airplays, but that would be missing the point. To follow it, though, Logrén’s delicate singing of Red River Valley, with Kimpi Huisman’s darkly surging keyboard atmosphere, brings a new, Finnish dimension to that American standard, just as the other tracks bring Finnish songs into American old-timey.

http://tuomaslogren.bandcamp.com/releases


© 2014 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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