Regina – Soita Mulle review
I'm a writer, a reader, a fixer, a lover. What can I say? I like to try my best to sidestep the cliches in life, but sometimes they are inevitable.
Does music seem to be more enjoyable when the lyrics are sung in a language we don’t speak? If so, why do you think that is? Could it be because, as listeners, we can put our own spin on the lyrics based on the tone of the music and its delivery? Or maybe there’s more a lyrical complement for the music and production since no one’s specifically caught up in content and meaning; there’s a greater opportunity to listen to and pick out the different nuances that delight us.
On Soita Mulle, the fourth album from Finnish indie pop band Regina on the Friendly Fire label, the music feels more calculated in terms of the lyrics (even though I don’t speak a lick of Finnish), more grounded and relaxed. It has a different, cooler-than-you vibe to it, you decide if it’s a derivative its Finnish upbringing. You may have been thinking “pop” and gotten that American pop bad taste in your mouth, but if the title, “Call Me” in Finnish, and the album cover don’t provide enough of a cue, I’ll be the one to venture that in terms of content Regina is a bit sexier and less annoying.
The pop breaks through the language barrier though, because it’s in the music. You can feel it and hear it but the words maintain a sense of substance and allure. It doesn’t matter what language in which the lyrics are sung, you still want to hear the entire album. More than once.
I think it’s the shoegaze charm on Soita Mulle that facilitates its transcendence from the connotation of pop music. I love Iisa Pykäri’s voice on every track because it’s light and airy like white linen curtains billowing in a summer breeze. I want to set her vocals in the same breathy category as Lykke Li.
The production is airy too. There aren’t any riffs that interrupt Pykäri’s Downy soft delivery. Her voice is at its softest in Lepään Aalloilla, the curtain analogy at its best. The song is slower, she takes some pauses and the music just carries along. The guitar and programming are excellent. The guitar has more of an edge at some points, but like I said before, its careful to preserve the breathy vocals.
Regina makes me want to learn Finnish, no doubt about it.
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