FEDJA

The debut of this Finnish fusion trio was released in 2008 as "Sanni Eskelinen & Stringpurée Band", placing the electric kantele player as the front(wo)man. Since also the drummer Niko Votkin and the bassist Kalle Ylitalo do compositions individually - the arrangements are naturally by the whole group - it's indeed more equal to use just Stringpurée Band as the performer's name. The debut gained some very warm response here. Sad to say but this second album is some sort of a disappointment to me. Where is the freshness and jazz-oriented groove?

One can truly say this album is more eclectic, whereas on the debut's behalf at least I would have labelled the group as Jazz Rock / Fusion. This band is a good example of how arbitrary and hazy the dividing lines between fusion and arty instrumental [prog] rock can be. Nevertheless, the unquestionable jazz aspect of fusion is not as apparent here, so the library's CD was placed not only under another name, but also under another musical genre than the debut!

'Control' (by Votkin) is an energetic and mostly fast opener. I'm not fond of the hurling and monotonous bass sound in the beginning, but luckily the track has a lot of progressivity, on some level comparable to PEKKA POHJOLA's music. 'Far East Western' (Votkin) is more delicate but also features emotionally stronger playing by each musician, and the bright kantele sound is very nice on it. Eskelinen's composition 'Kaahaus' (the word means driving too fast and dangerously) starts with a car horn and puts immediately the fast gear on. Violin and tenor sax are guesting on this hectic, speedy track which I don't enjoy at all. 'Aino' (Ylitalo) is nearly a ten-minute long, moody and unpredictable musical interpretation of the fate of the girl character in the Kalevala epic. This ambitious composition demands a lot of concentration from the listener to reveal its strength.

To be honest, the rest of the album I find terribly boring. 'Autus' (Ylitalo) is a low-key meditative noodling that seems to be going nowhere. Yawn... 'Kevottu' (Ylitalo) tries to be exciting with dynamic changes but in its lack of good melodies it feels very empty to me. Friends of eclectic prog such as the newer King Crimson may enjoy it though. 'Last Yellow' (Eskelinen) starts with a wandering solo bass. Kantele sounds great again, but the composition feels totally directionless. That unpredictability in itself may be something to admire for others but not for me. At this point I really miss the accessible jazzy spirit of the debut. 'Church Bells' (Eskelinen) continues the meditative side of this album. Better than many other tracks but it doesn't save the whole from making me bored and emotionally rather untouched.

Objectively this original music is definitely worth more than my two VERY subjective stars. I'm waiting for more reviews that most likely will be more favourable. C'mon, where are you who so warmly welcomed this group in the first place?