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Written in fRoots issue 347, 2012


VÄRTTINÄ
Utu
RockAdillo ZENCD 2141 (2012)

After a gap of six years since their last album, and a gigging hiatus, Värttinä are back.
     There’s still the three-singer frontline of Mari Kaasinen, Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen (Aho and Virtanen having been, as Kuunkuiskaajat, during the pause Finland’s 2010 Eurovision entry), but now just two instrumentalists: new member Matti Kallio on accordion, keyboards, flutes and more, and double bassist Hannu Rantanen. They’re joined for the CD by substantial input from guests on guitar, fiddle, saxes and drums
     The break seems to have given them time to work without pressure. The three voices together in songs strongly rooted in the insistent melodies and asymmetric rhythms of Finnish runolaulu are still the core sound, but there’s more breathing space, partly created by sections of solo voice, and the solo voices are more confident, sensitive and crafted than earlier; it seems the three are singing with their own voices rather than under pressure to make the Värttinä sound, though well able to call on it here when needed.
     With elegant production by Matti Kallio, who also wrote most of the music, plenty of melodic and rhythmic interest and more oases of quiet intimacy, it’s a mature, relaxed, varied listen, less hyper-driven than the high-profile days and, one hopes, able to be performed without the earlier stagey mock-coquettishness, and all the more enjoyable because of it.
     Possibly their most natural, and deserving to become regarded as among the best, of their albums.

www.rockadillo.fi


© 2012 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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