Kevin – Bad Dream Stone Mystery (2006)

By mid-00's, Helsinki's music scene was full of indie rock bands that got their influences mostly from US-based indie rock bands. A vast majority of these bands chose to sing in English, because it kind of felt like the official language of this genre, but also that choice allowed them to dream big of an international career. I think it would be safe to say that none of these bands made it big internationally, but I can't really blame the bands, because there's some quite amazing music made around that time. Kevin was one of these bands that sounded ambitious and international. Their first album had had a big hit in the indie circles and I think many Helsinki rockers were looking forward to their second album, me included. Unfortunately, I feel like Bad Dream Stone Mystery is not quite as good as their debut was, but it's still a nice album.



Kevin's music is quite straightforward power pop with some rockabilly and some psychedelia influences. The sounds are quite organic and there are no echoes that you usually hear on albums that have been released on major labels. I feel like Kevin tried to push their music to the same Nordic audiences that had been awed by the Swedish band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. At least I can hear many similarities in these bands' sounds.

The album starts with the pounding and slightly psychedelic power pop song The World Outside the Window. You can hear that the band is talented, but at the same time, this song doesn't really do anything for me emotionally. You Get What I'm Feeling is a more old-fashioned rock n' roll song that's nice to dance to. For some reason, Helsinki indie scene was filled with these kinds of rockabilly influences at that time. Töölönlahti is a slower song with modern psychedelia sounds. Big City is probably the first song on the album that really has something interesting and original. There's a great bridge and chorus that gets stuck in your head. Midnite Dynamos uses two electronic guitars in unison, a sound familiar from many Iron Maiden albums. The music itself, on the other hand, is quite far from the mentioned hard rock band. The song shows the full party potential of the band. Me & Mine is also great superfast piece great bass lines that remind me of early Lemonator sounds. Witching Hour is probably the most ambitious song on this album when it comes to sounds. It also has a nice melody. Crystal Ball differs quite a lot from the rest of the album. It's a dark song that kind of reminds me of Black Sabbath's Planet Caravan. This is probably my favourite track on this album.

I know I have seen Kevin live in Helsinki somewhere, but I don't really have that many memories of that gig. I think it didn't really have such a big impact on me. Also, I hardly ever listen to Kevin anymore these days. The sound is just helplessly old for the year 2017. Right now, the 1990's music is becoming slowly cool again, although much of that sounds really old as well, so maybe in another ten years or so, this will also come in fashion as well, but at the moment, this album sounds a bit bland.

Listen to the album on Spotify.