KURKI

It's six years since the release of this Finnish debut album - and that was that? Please, c'mon, there are already too many good prog bands with only one Long-Player! LP literally in this case; Kurki came out as a vinyl (containg a download code) but not on CD. By the way, KURKI is not a plural form of crane but a single form. The album - only about 35 minutes in total - consists of five tracks all sung in Finnish by a beautiful female voice.

The opening track (= Songs of distant Eartth; I see no connection to A. C. Clarke's SF novel of the same name) has the fastest tempo and it approaches the trippy Space Rock of e.g. HIDRIA SPACEFOLK, only with vocals. The 9½-minute 'Pilvilaivat' (= Cloud ships) has a melancholic, dreamy song in its core, which is at least for me the most memorable highlight. Kaiti Kink's vocals remind me of Jenni Vartiainen, one of Finland's best-selling female pop artists recently. And this is not a negative remark. In fact Kaiti is even better singer than Jenni who has turned her sigh-loaded mannerism into a trade mark. Anyway, this song is a wonderful fusion of accessible pop balladry and extended prog composing. The lovely, hazy sound has softly sparkling guitars, but it's really the vocals that crown this beauty. Also the esoteric, solace-seeking lyrics are fine, they would stand on their own as poetry.

The second side starts with 'Akasha', no idea what it is. The whole album's lyrics are indeed esoteric, and metaphoric. "Distant echoes, fragile images", and: "The spirit blows wherever it wants / the night can remove the barriers of time". Musically this track of just under 8 minutes shares some of the haziness of 'Pilvilaivat' but with darker edge. 'Koti' (= Home) continues in that melancholic and rather slow & dreamy direction, but in the halfway comes a heavier section à la PORCUPINE TREE. The powerful lyrics deal with domestic violence.

The last title means "In the patterns of butterfly wings". More or less similar mix of hazy and harder elements in a melancholic mood. Some Swedish bands such as PAATOS may come to mind. Perhaps this album remains too short and single-minded, that is, a wider variety in structures and moods would have done good. But it is full of emotionally strong beauty that could be enjoyed by many more listeners, also by those who don't care about the prog labeling. It's truly sad if this relatively hard-to-find band has been discovered by a small bunch of prog enthusiasts only, and if these gifted musicians haven't continued music-making in some form.