Solano + Profettes add an icy Nordic touch to Italo disco on "Sakura"

12 April 2016, 11:00 | Written by Andrew Hannah

(Tracks)

With five members who have played in over twenty bands between them, Finland's Solano + Profettes use their experience to great effect on the second track to be taken from their forthcoming self-titled EP.

Made up of Samuli Kukkola, Janiv Oskár and Jokke Olavi, plus singers Minna Sihvonen and Ringa Manner (who also peforms as The Hearing), the five-piece has taken the Italo and house music background of their male members and married it seamlessly to the cool, slightly detached Nordic air of the females on "Sakura", which follows on from debut "Like This".

Described by Solano + Profettes as "50% Scott Walker & ABBA, 50% Enya & Giorgio Moroder", the track takes a steady, unwavering beat and atmospheric, eerie synths that wouldn't be out of place soundtracking one of Ryan Gosling's intense excursions in Drive and uses that as a platform for Sihvonen and Manner to sing of a troubled mind and escapism: "this ain't how I should spend my days / can't make all my thoughts fade / I have got to get away". The pure and heavenly high vocals are in stark contrast to the lyrical content, but a perfect match to the instrumentation which becomes increasingly wistful as the track develops.

There's a dreamy, nebulous quality to "Sakura" which makes Solano + Profettes an intriguing prospect: a pop band at heart, but one unaware of any boundaries of what a pop song should be.

The Solano + Profettes EP is out on Friday via Solina Records, but you can listen to "Sakura" below now.