Sagastrophe (Finland) – Clay (sample track from the album Deux)

I sometimes think I signed up for a world tour with this job, having been introduced to all manner of places I’d never heard of before.

This time it’s the turn of the wonderfully named band Sagastrophe, which hails, according to its press release, from Northern Ostrobothnia which sounds like it belongs in a James Bond film. “Bond, Zorin’s set up a new nuclear missile site in a pine forest in Northern Ostrobothnia, he’s threatening to destroy the world. You’re booked on the first flight there (change in Helsinki, Tampere and Rovaniemi, and then catch the bus. If it doesn’t come, hop on a reindeer…). Good luck, Bond, and no sagastrophes.”

It is up in Northern Finland and they display a commonality I have experienced previously with Finnish bands, namely that they make “original songs that were born in Liminka, Northern Finland, under old pine trees”.

The call of the great outdoors is never far away from Finnish music – I wonder how much has been created around the campfire – and it is often the case that you can sense that through the music.

I don’t think they have been around as a band for that long but they have been productive, with an EP and a full length album already, ahead of this second album, ‘Deux’, for which I am grateful to them for informing me that it “stands proud even when listened to with the poorest headphones on earth.”

How did they know?

(Times are tough in the reviewing business).

Nordic bands in general have this ability to meld soft rock, especially that of the melancholic textures, with Americana, which is typically gloomy anyway, and that immediately presents itself to the listener here as one of their fortes.

I’ve been listening to the album while writing this and the track that struck my imagination the most, despite the attraction of ‘Roswell ‘47’, little green men ‘n all, is ‘Clay’, a lovely piece of Celtic folk a la Fairport Convention that somehow manages to morph into a sophisticated guitar solo outro that hits the spot perfectly without once feeling the need to start shredding.

And underpinning it all is the fragile tones of the female singer, whose name I unfortunately can’t track down.

The most telling comment in their publicity is, ‘Sagastrophe’s songs tell your story. The path is familiar yet somehow different.’

You could say much the same about Finnish bands and artists in general; there is always something just outside of the zone with them, which is what makes them such an enticing prospect. And Sagastrophe doesn’t falter on that score.

Find them on:

Website: http://www.sagastrophe.com/