Lost in Music Festival: Five Finnish Bands to Watch

The Lost in Music Festival is what the Music and Media Conference in Tampere, Finland turns in to at night; the part of our hugely enjoyable trip where all us chin-stroking journalists and hobnobbing industry types who’ve spent all day comfortably holed up in a hotel listening to panel debates and taking part in networking events actually get out and earn our bloody keep.

When one gets out on to the pretty but distinctly chilly streets of Tampere, Finland’s third largest city reveals itself to be far more than its reputation as ‘The Manchester of the North’ (a name I still find funny in itself) would have one believe. Though its mills, omnipresent red bricks and towering chimneys do indeed remind me of all things Mancunian, the city’s many diverse music venues are filled with artists who certainly aren’t limited to the “Manserock” – a Finnish take on Joy Division, The Buzzcocks et al (odd, I know) – that was once the area’s speciality.

During my brief but wonderful stay, on offer I find everything from silky smooth chart friendly RnB to the heaviest of black metal – a testament to the range of genres current Finnish musicians are putting their own spin on. Here’s a look back at five of the finest discoveries of the weekend.

Death Hawks

Photograph by Lauri Hannus

Playing to the biggest crowd I saw all festival, Death Hawks were worthy of the attendance of even more than the many who cramped inside YO-Talo for their highly anticipated set. We at Best Fit have already had kind words to say about the band’s self titled album – out this month – but even familiarity with their recorded output isn’t quite enough to prepare one for the twist and turns of the journey these unabashedly psychedelic rockers lead folks merrily along. If you like Dead Meadow, Dungen or Tame Impala, well, good news – these guys are even better.

The Scenes

Photograph by Aapo Hellman

Things like naming themselves or their albums isn’t The Scenes’ strong point (their debut LP goes under the cumbersome title of Images Of Animals Crying In Public, and who really calls themselves ‘The Scenes’?), but world beating melodies certainly are. The band (all aged under 23) currently have priorities other than making the world’s most coherent songs, but that at least made for not one dull moment in what was the festival’s first truly enjoyable gig. What I’m told are their newer tunes are quite exhilarating, however; lucid yet soaring, they’re the sound of a band hitting their peak, and in singer Konsta Koivisto, they’ve a potential superstar on their hands.

Satellite Stories

Photograph by Lauri Hannus

The most talked-about band of the festival’s opening evening certainly had the tunes to back up the chatter. Formed in Olulu in 2008, the four-piece have developed a commanding stage presence that suggests their being uninterested in being a mere “indie band”, with the far slicker, arena-filling likes of Editors or Two Door Cinema Club being kindred spirits. Though Satellite Stories’ music is far from ground breaking, their song “We Met Yesterday At The Disco” has now been in my head since I first laid ears on it five days ago, and it’s made that head a far easier one to live with after a weekend of partying Tampere style.

Mirel Wagner

Photograph by Lauri Hannus

Mirel Wagner’s performance is a great excuse to visit the festival’s plushest of venues (Tampere Music Hall, which wouldn’t be out of place on London’s South Bank), but it doesn’t particularly suit her music; a delicate, bleak-yet-beautiful blend of early period Leonard Cohen’s simple yet affecting melodic simplicity and Billie Holiday’s impassioned vocals that would be better suited to small, dark rooms filled with smoke. The potential for it to click with even greater force in an environment it’s more suited to is clear however, and the follow up to her self-titled debut, released last year, is one I look forward to with considerable intrigue.

Phantom

Photograph by Lauri Hannus

Phantom come highly recommended by none other than man of the (elongated) moment Jamie xx. It’s hard not to think he sees a little of himself in this downbeat duo’s way with foggy layers of electronics and beats that cut through them like shards of light through the clouds. Though singer Hanna Toivonen throws herself in to her vocals in a way that makes us share her evident belief in the worth of their music, it’s her cohort Tommi Koskinen who draws our gaze more often than not. Waving his hands above an instrument that looks like a jellyfish but seems to behave like a Theremin, he dramatically conjures all sorts of wickedness from its depths, leaving a fair portion of the crowd under its resulting spell.