HAURAS SILTA

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.

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.

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.