Mummypowder – Centuries Later (2011)

The title of the album, Centuries Later, is quite appropriate, considering that most people thought this band didn't even exist anymore when the album came out in 2011. The previous album had came out seven year earlier in 2004 and pretty much nothing had been happening with the band in years. I was a big fan of the said previous album Consternation! Uproar! so I was thrilled when I heard Mummypowder was making a new album. Also, this time, my friend played guitar on some of the band's gigs to promote the album. I also know the bass player, so I guess you could say this is a very familiar band to me. Even though I talk about band here, Mummypowder is really almost a solo project by the lead singer and guitar player Janne Lehtinen, who has in the past done almost everything on Mummypowder albums.



Mummypowder is one of the most international sounding Helsinki-based indie rock bands. Their music is mainly power-pop in the style of Teenage Fanclub, The Posies or The Lemonheads. The band started with a bang in the late 90's when they played at New York's CBGB's and at South by Southwest festival even before their first recording. Later on though, most of the band members left the band and the album V. Strange was pretty much recorded by Janne Lehtinen alone. I remember first seeing them after Consternation! Uproar! in a basement venue in Helsinki. It was mostly an acoustic gig, but I really really liked it. After that I bought the album and it's been one of my favourite Finnish albums ever since. This album's promo-gig I saw at a legendary Helsinki-venue Semifinaali.

The album starts with big power pop sounds in the title track Centuries Later. This is a great example of the band's melodic style of making songs. The second song Part of the Fun is more of a rock ballad, but it's probably one of the most obvious hit songs on the album. The weeping guitars in the intro and the rising catchy chorus make it a very likeable song. No Promise has echoey guitars that wouldn't have worked in the 90's or 00's because of their resemblance to 80's music, but in the new decade, 80's sounds made their slow return to music and even though the song is a fairly general power pop song in the style of the 90's, the intro already hints at the appearance of 80's retro. Bad Analogy is a ballad with a strange melody that almost seems to draw influences from progressive rock. Too Ordinary is another proper power-pop song that has some great power chords. It almost sounds like Jimmy Eat World in places. The Frog Man shows just how delicate Mummypowder's ballads can sound. The chorus has some excellent vocal harmonies. Sights & Sounds has a simple, yet catchy melody with some strings in the background. German Shepherd is an excellent retro song that resembles many late-60's bands, such as Beach Boys and The Zombies. Can't Own You is a rising power ballad with huge stadium sounds. The ending rises very nicely to great heights. Face Down is an excellent song to listen to live. It's one of those songs that get the whole crowd go wild on the guitar riffs. A House resembles another great Finnish rock band Koria Kitten Riot quite a lot. There are some terrific melodies and power chords in this song. The album ends with a sleepy song Before Morning Comes that features some beautiful cello.

One of the reasons for writing this and other music blogs I do is to try and spread a word for amazing bands that are mostly unknown. Especially many bands from Finland would definitely deserve a bit more recognition but because of difficulties in marketing, those bands have never really caught attention overseas. Mummypowder is definitely one of the bands that deserve new listeners from other countries and who knows if we get enough new listeners, Mummypowder might come back for another new album after years of waiting.

Listen to the album on Spotify.