BLUESION

This was my first solo album by the ex-member of WIGWAM, about twelve years ago. I used to enjoy it a lot, but later I began to see its faults more clearly. After listening to several other albums I believe this is one of the weakest. It's surely interesting and very personal, but it feels somehow half baked to me. First of all, Gustavson should have used more musicians.

Many tracks feature just his piano and/or synths and some vocals: 'Tervetuloa-rag' (Welcome Rag) is a lively jazz piece for solo piano with his wife Leena repeating "tervetuloa" in the beginning. 'Song of the Secret Person of the Heart' is Jukka and keyboards only. The playful song itself is charming at first, but it continues too long without much change, so it begins to bore after repeated listenings. 'Varo - ihminen!' (Beware - human!) continues - far too long - in the same vein. It doesn't help that he changes into English midway. The closing track 'Everyday' adds nothing new really. All these compositions have a feeling of rehearsal (don't get me wrong: the playing is very skilful and also the sound quality is clean) and they would have improved a lot with fuller arrangements.

Completely English-language 'A Frozen Tear' is a hazy, slow track featuring also Pekka Nylund on electric guitar and Tom Nekljudow on drums. At once you hear the difference: it's free of the rehearsal impression of the forementioned tracks even if it has a sort of a wandering/wondering spirit.

'In Search of a Blue Root in the Acid Rain and the Low of a Cliché Thicket' is the oddity here. It's a collache of endlessly repeated and overlapping spoken (or loudly whispered) words such as a thicket and a quagmire and strange sound effects evoking the impression depicted in the long title. 'Palokärjen lento yli vuonon' (Woodpecker's flight over a fjord) is a romantic lied for high soprano voice, very sentimental and a bit over the top actually. Later it adds a spoken narrative in Italian by Giuseppina Mäkelä and some sound effects, ie. flapping of the wings and the bird's scream.

Bluesion is very interesting and charming work in its own way, but for the negative sides (too sparse instrumentation etc) it falls below three full stars.

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