PAIDARION

This Finnish musical project is rooted in 2006 when some 'hidden poems' were composed and performed acoustically, this was the very first start of Paidarion in 2006. Two years later the project continued with members of Finnish progrock bands Mist Season and Progression (not on PA, highly recommended jazzrock). Finally in 2009 Paidarion released their debut CD entitled Hauras Silta, in 2011 followed by Behind The Curtains and in 2016 by Two Worlds Encounter (as Paidarion Finlandia Project). This review is about their debut CD.

Many of the 12 tracks are mellow or start dreamy with wonderful, a bit high pitched female vocals and pleasant flute work. Often halfway the climates turns into slow rhythms with delicate synthesizer solos and exciting work on guitar, from moving and powerful to biting and wah-wah drenched. I am delighted about the very beautiful classical guitar play in the warm track Eksynyt. But Paidarion also deliver more dynamic and varied music.

A swinging rhythm with a funky (slap) bass solo in Polku.

A mid-tempo with rock guitar, saxophone and the distinctive Hammond organ sound in Kipinat Vedesta.

Swinging piano, rock guitar and male vocals, then a swirling Hammond organ solo and another funky bass solo in Tyhja Takki.

A long guitar solo with howling runs and lush Hammond organ in Hahmo.

And fine work on the fretless bass guitar and a sensitive electric guitar solo with a beautiful strings sound in Paivan Kajo Hileessa.

If you like a progressive blend of folk, classical, jazz and rock, this band from Finland is worth to discover.

My rating: 3,5 star.

Yes,yes and yes again!5 years has been a too long wait to have a new PAIDARION album released,but this long time of silence was completed by other amazing musical releases,made by the instigator of this project,the body of work called Kimmo Porsti,the instigator of many amazing projects,such as THE SAMURAI OF PROG,MIST SEASON ,among others!TWO WORLD ENCOUNTER is a very ambitious album,is -in a way-the most mature and complex PAIDARION album so far!I really like the diversity of the album,but the magis is that even the tracks are quite different,there is still a guiding imaginary common line between the tracks!The artwork of Mr Ed Unitsky is absolutelly stunning,a masterpiece indeed!That's even more remarcable,the importance of the visual impact that PAIDARION is giving to the band's albums,and that deserves all our respect,in a world of digital releases and artificial music passion!This album is a labour of love for true good music,is a tribute to strong and mature music focused on composition,not on technical demonstrations,even the technical aspect of this album is a very serious one!Musically speaking,we are spoiled here with an album of almost 60 minutes of wonderful sonic landscapes,very diverse and catchy,with a marvelous production too,where each instrument sound crystal clear and has it's own importance!All the musicians involved in the band are true aces,but there's definitelly a perfect musical alchemy between all of them,we feel the great commitment to all the guys to deliver some strong and wonderful music to this kind of music lovers!I think there are absoutelly necessary many auditions to fully understand this album,because each one will bring new emotions and discoveries to the listeners!4.75 stars for mewith a a special mention for the amazing artwork too and hat off to Mr Kimmo Porsti for another musical triumph !

What a nice surprise to get a new album from this Finnish band, already five years since their second album Behind the Curtains. But as the extended title suggests, this is a special project. Some background information first: in April 2015 the core members of Paidarion (drummer Kimmo Pörsti and bassist Jan-Olof Strandberg) invited several friends from various countries to join them on a small tour in southern Finland. These friends were the US vocalist Jenny Darren, British hard-rock bassist Kev Moore, Hungarian guitarist Ákos Bogáti-Bokor (leader of the bands Yesterdays and Tabula Smaragdina), Finnish electronic music -oriented musician Otso Pakarinen, and Robert Webb (best known as the frontman of the 70's band ENGLAND). I was lucky to witness one of their gigs, and it sure was a pleasure. The warm connection between the excellent musicians and the audience was truly memorable. The music of Paidarion was only one starting point, and many of the musicians had also a solo moment.

This studio release continued that collaboration. The lavish artwork is by Ed Unitsky (whose other works include albums by Kimmo's other band The Samurai Of Prog). At these times when a lot of music is distributed digitally, I really appreciate this kind of dedication to the package itself.

The opener 'Colin and Wendy', written by Webb, is a beautiful prog song full of sensitivity and dynamics. Jenny Darren has also started her career in the 70's. The liner notes tell she's been compared to Janis Joplin and she has supported AC/DC and Patti Smith on stage. Maybe not exactly my type of female vocalist, and I did have some doubts, but in the end her powerful vocal delivery gives this music a rock edge that probably will be greeted by many listeners. 'Billy Would Climb' - credited to Darren & Webb - features Robert Webb on acoustic guitar and Ákos on electric guitar. Otso's keyboards finish the rather retroish feel to this not-so-proggy song. The deeply emotional 'Fragile Bridge' originates from Paidarion's Finnish-language debut Hauras Silta (being a translation of its title track). Fusion-flavoured instrumental 'Jungle Fever' is a cover tune.

The mellow, slightly YES-like song 'Yellow' originates from England's Garden Shed (1977). 'Ode to Billie Jo' is a bluesy song initially performed by Bobbie Gentry in 1967; Jenny Darren is very much at home with this one! The next short piece is an acoustic guitar solo by Ákos. Gorgeous 'Grand Canyon of My Dreams' (Darren/Webb) is the album's last song sung by Jenny Darren. 'Horsemen to Symphinity' is a fine slice of 70's symphonic prog by the Australian band Windchase, but the vocals of Kev Moore are a bit of a let-down to me on this one and on 'Hahmo', another translated song from Paidarion's debut. Between them is a little uplifting rock song 'Why Oh Why' by Webb who also sings it.

If the 57-minute album is slightly incoherent in style, that's quite understandable due to the project's nature; the song material comes from many directions. Anyway, it is well worth purchasing if you have enjoyed e.g. The Samurai Of Prog albums.

I'm glad of the opportunity to see this band live next month in their hometown Hämeenlinna. They went considerably proggier on their next album Behind the Curtains, with some line-up changes and prog personalities guesting, but also this one is a wonderful listen for certain moods, when in need of soothing, melodic, mellow, fresh and comforting music. The reviews by Apps79 and b_olariu already capture the music's nature very well, but at least I can better deal with the lyrics that are in Finnish. Having found the CD from the Gospel section in a library, it's interesting to estimate the spiritual level in lyrics. Well, perhaps it wouldn't be a terrible problem if they were about God and Jesus etc, but happily they aren't directly religious. In fact they're quite good, thoughtful and methaphorical.

The opening title track starts beautifully with a soft flute melody (which in fact reminds me of an old Finnish nursery song about the Sandman: "Nukku-Matti, Nukku-Matti lasten..."). The arrangement of this slightly melancholic song is wonderfully balanced between folky serenity and a rock flavour made by drums and guitar, and the clear vocals of Kristina Johnson are lovely. The jazzier instrumental section improves the track even further. Worth mentioning is Paidarion's blood-relation to the Fusion group MIST SEASON. The final lines of this song mean "even a fragile bridge is strong and beautiful, and it rises up to heaven". That's spiritual, all right. 'Polku' (= Path) is mellower and closer to typical, soft Gospel Pop, both in music and lyrics. A nice, soothing song nevertheless.

The album continues in dreamy mellowness. 'Eksynyt' contains a cool synth solo and pretty flute melodies. When an album is so much oriented to mellowness, there comes a moment where you begin to wish some more spice into it. 'Kultapallo' (= Golden Ball) is a relaxed, uplifting song in a peaceful tempo. Again the soft flute is an essential part in the sound. The tempo increases in the instrumental section that stretches the track length into roughly 8 minutes. The beginning of 'Tuulensuoja' shows how wonderful bassist Jan-Olof Strandberg is. The vocals start halfway in this fine song. 'Hauras silta II' returns to the beginning, fulfilling the circle. The light melancholy fits into this music perfectly, I wish there were more of it. And that flute... sooo beautiful!

Since this album is only slightly leaning toward prog and for sure would be all too soft for many readers here (as it is for me too sometimes), three stars will do, but an imaginary fourth star goes for the rare beauty.

Finnish project from Hämeenlinna, led since 2006 by Mist Season's drummer Kimmo Pörsti.Pörsti recruited keyboardist Timo Kajamies and guitarist Tommi Varjola from Mist Season, also guitarist Harri Göös, flute/sax player Olli Jaakkola along with guitarist Jaan Jaanson and bassist Jan-Olof Strandberg, both from Progression.With the help of singers Jari Markkula and Kristina Johnson Paidarion started recording material for a debut at the fall of 2008 and the album saw the light in 2009 on the Seacrest label under the title ''Hauras Silta''.

The style is a beautiful mix of Folk Rock and Jazz Rock with plenty of proggy touches, recalling compatriots AQUAPLAN and having a strong Scandinavian melancholy on the female-vocal tracks due to the use of Finnish language.The atmosphere is mellow and dreamy with some excellent flute melodies and soft piano lines along with series of melodic guitar solos by the three guitarists of the project.Despite its calm sound all these tracks burst out an extreme inner beauty and the voice of Kristina Johnson is a pure heaven.The male-vocal tracks are a whole different story.More up-tempo musicianship with a Jazz-Rock attitude, often supported by lots of funky elements and grooves, with good sax work and the overall approach being close to a more energetic MIST SEASON.Nice guitar solos, deep bass lines and interesting piano and synths create a generally positive atmosphere compared to the female-vocal arrangements and even a couple of them contain some lovely child choirs.

Interesting debut by Paidarion.Good mix of Scandinavian Art Rock with Folk and Jazz, especially created for fans of dreamy and intense atmospheres.Warmly recommended.

Second album of this finish band named Paidarion is an excellent one in every way. Behind the curtains is the name of the album released in november 2011. I was quite pleasent surprised of the first album and I decided to check the second one aswell. With this album Paidarion change little the musical direstion and the result is more then ok, even great. Optaing for a more jazz fusion lanscapes here but aswell combining with folkish atmosphere of their previous one Behind the curtains is a winner for sure. Pieces like instrumentals Trapeze or A leap into unknown or with vocals A vertical rope and A small wish are simply excellent pieces that shows Paidarion in good form with great inventive passages, tight musicianship. Alternating up tempo fusion parts with more mellow ones, Paidarion succeded to overcome their first album from two years prior and offering an album that for sure will please fans of progressive rock. Having some guest here like Michael Manring on bass, Stebe Unruh on violin they integrated very well in the album atmosphere. Some impressive bass lines and keyboards on all pieces, complex and very well played, sax aswell did a good job here - Risto Salmi is the sax player of jazz fusion band Mist Season, the influences might apper on this release . All in all a very promising band that needs recognition, if first album was good this one tops it easely, more mature more intresting. Great , 4 stars easy, excellent booklet and art work. A band that I will keep an eye on in the future.

Behind The Curtain is the second album from Finland's Paidarion. Whilst it won't set the world on fire it's nevertheless a highly competent and enjoyable collection drawing on various styles. Light jazz is fairly prominent; the kind of stuff David Sanborn did (probably still does) mixed with prog - mainly symphonic and all done with a commercial touch. If there's a problem it's that it's all just a little too polite and smooth, mainly on the mellow side. Occasionally Jaan Jaanson's guitar takes things up a notch and he puts in a few fiery solo's, a few more of which would have been very welcome.

The band are all good players and Elina Hautakoski is an excellent singer with a jazz inflected style. Making the band stand out from the usual prog fare is the heavy use of sax but don't expect any wilder David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generator) style moments, the afore mentioned David Sanborn coming more to mind.

Those enjoying the wilder excesses of prog may find Paidarion a bit on the dull side but despite this there's no denying their ability as players and composers of light and easily accessible prog. Perhaps a new sub-genre is in order - easy listening prog.

Nice to see this Finnish band is here already, and even with some reviews. Their first album from 2009 is for some reason classified under Gospel Rock in Tampere Library. Naturally I'm going to borrow it as soon as possible. However this second one is a plain prog album - you can see it right from the Neo-Proggish cover. Some of the musicians (e.g. Risto Salmi, saxophones) are from MIST SEASON, which is a Jazz/Fusion group. The line-up has changed since the debut, and the introductory text - featuring praising words about the new members - gives an idea that now they are much more seriously in the Finnish Prog scene. They have even invited some foreign prog musicians such as Michael Manring (bass) and Steve Unruh (violin). The new vocalist is Elina Hautakoski, a young lady with a beautiful voice.

For a prog connoisseur their sound is not very unique with its clean, nearly sterile production, but they blend various music genres into a logical artistic whole without ever sounding pretentious. Neo-Prog, pop and jazz flavours are obvious, and I'd like to add Entertainment Vocal Music (Elaine Paige, Katherine Jenkins and such). One song started pretty much in that style but evolved into proggier direction. Instrumentals (were there two or three of them) are something you might hear on older ARENA or IQ albums too; the jazz side actually could come out more strongly. Also I believe that Elina could manage to handle some more ambitious vocal parts too. All in all this is very fine work, enjoyable from start to finish. Perhaps I miss some more depth or rougher edges in this polished album. Maybe they are still on their way to really find their uniqueness.

I wish this band a good future!

Here we have the second album of this very talented band from the cold Finland-the land of the 1000 lakes!BEHIND THE CURTAINS is the proud successor of the first album of PAIDARION ,HAURAS SILTA!Definitelly,this second musical effort marks a logical progression compared with the musical message of the first opus!It's also slightly different-less traditional than the first one and definitelly more jazz fusion and prog orientated!The production is excellent-as usual-and the compositions are well structured and inspired too!BEHIND THE CURTAINS is a diverse album,made by real pros,and the atmosphere of the album is one of passion and pure delightment to play high quality music-timeless and out of trends and tendences!It's real good music,with strong influences from the bands of the 70's and some classical fusion and prog rock ingredients too!As I've mentioned above,the musicianship is at the highest level,all the great musicians from this album are doing an excellent job!Great interventions of each instrumentist-but,definitelly,a strong colective effort!We must mention the presence on one track of the bassist extraordinaire MICHAEL MANRING-a great name in music-the certificate of quality and musical excellence of this album .The vocal tracks are provided by a excellent lady singer-ELINA HAUTAKOSKY-very enjoyable and pleasant to any ears-BOB PRICE is the male voice-he delivers also some excellent interventions on the vocal tracks too!!Overall,an excellent album,loaded with strong compositions-an album that needs more auditions to be fully understood and musically appreciated.It's not a difficult audition,no way about it,but the album has many fine complex passages and moments of real musical delightment and enchantment!4 strong stars without any hesitation and the conviction that PAIDARION has a huge musical potential!

3.5 for sure

Paidarion is a progressive rock band from Finland formed around 2006. They release so far a two albums, this is from 2009 named Hauras silta. Besides the progressive roots of their music in their sound can easely be traced gospel, folk and jazz elements. Some of the members from Paidarion are coming from another finish jazz fusion band Mist Season, so it's obvious that the jazzy parts from Hauras silta are influenced by this band. The album alternates from mellow side of prog with a lot of folk touches to a more up tempo beats close to jazz side, but always keeping a great atmosphere. Also here are two kind of voices, the female Kristina Johnson, who fits very well in the context, she has a nice and very fragile tone of voice and male Jari Markkula. Here and there are flute passages who interplay very well with the smooth keys arrangements and with the guitar works. Overall the album maybe sounds a little to mellow, but the beauty of the pieces make me forget this part, and enjoy to the max this release. Not a groundbreaking album, but filled with pleasent moments and good arrangements. 3.5 stars for sure, a good album, even great in places, and for sure needs a wider recognition. CD available on cdbaby. I'm looking forward to listen to their new release Behind The Curtain just issued this month.