Risto – Aurinko aurinko plaa plaa plaa (2006)

Risto is a very typical Finnish man's name. This band is basically named after the lead singer Risto Ylihärsilä, whose stage person sounds like a dangerous person, who drinks and is often violent. The real life Risto is apparently quite different. I don't know exactly what he's trying to do with his lyrics. It might be just written as black comedy, or he's talking about problems in the modern Finnish society. Who knows. Anyway, the production and composing on this album are done amazingly. So, even if you don't understand Finnish, it's worth listening to this album. There's quite a range of different styles on the album. I had already gotten acquainted with Risto by his first album, which I really liked, so when this second album came out, I was fairly excited about it and I remember buying it quite quickly after its release on vinyl.



I've seen Risto live a couple of times and he's really a great performer. He looks like a genuine nerd, but when he gets on stage, he has this strange amazing energy. He's disturbing yet funny on stage and the songs have amazing groove when performed live. The records can capture some of that sound, but I feel like Risto is best enjoyed live.

The album kicks off with a great rock song Rakkauden rock, which translates to rock of love. The lyrics are quite humorous. There are lots of lyrics that only people deeply in love would use but to others they would sound like too sweet. Auringon prinsessa shows the completely other side of Risto's music. This piano ballad sounds absolutely beautiful, but the lyrics are very disturbing. He has many songs like this where the lyrics and sounds don't really match. Discopallo was probably the biggest hit on the album and I can see why. This electro disco song is very good for dancing and it builds up really nicely. Again, there's disturbing stuff in the lyrics such as a bit about shoving dildo's up someone's arse while they're reading a book. Pikkuoravat, in English Little Squirrels is again a beautifully hypnotic ballad song that has some amazing psychedelic organ sounds. Muistatko, kun tanssittiin is a beautifully rolling stoner song with great bluesy sounds. Pupu Tupuna is a children's book character who in this song is an object of deep longing and love. It sounds like the main character is using drugs quite heavily and this is a kind of strange dream that they're seeing. The last song on the album, Rukous, is one of the greatest when it comes to sounds. There are amazing hypnotic loops and sounds in this song. The lyrics are about some sort of manic depression.

Risto doesn't have that many music videos, but there's one of the first song Rakkauden rock. The video is just a live performance, but it's been made in the kind of strange black and white animation style. It somehow reminds me of the cover of Nirvana's Bleach.

I seriously don't know how people who don't understand Finnish would feel about this album. It might be really enjoyable, or just plain weird. Although, the Finnish lyrics kind of make the album even more weird, so maybe not knowing the lyrics would just make it a nice album to listen to. I was really into this music when it came out, but I don't listen to it that much anymore. Although, some of the most hypnotic songs still sound amazing.

Listen to the album on Spotify.