HAIKARA

With influences from jazz fusion and Finnish folk leaking in around the edges, this is a confident debut from Finnish prog outfit Haikara. Incorporating more brass instruments than is typical for prog, thanks to their six-musician brass section, Haikara don't shy away from unusual instruments - even vocalist Vesa Lehtinen is credited with tamburine, cow bell, and "Eberhard Faber 1146 No. 2" (the latter being a make of pencil!) - and they use this range of instrumentation to create a rich and unpredictable sound. A competent album which despite coming out at the peak of prog's popularity doesn't seem to have got much attention outside of Finland, which is a bit of a shame, but at the same time don't expect a lost classic primed to set your very conception of prog on fire on listening - this is decent but not exceptional.