Various Artists – Come Hear. Finland. (2012)

In 2012 I moved to London to do my internship at the Finnish Institute in London. I worked in their society programme, but the other half of the institute was about culture and arts. The institute started collaborating with Music Finland, whose aim was to introduce Finnish artists to audiences abroad. This compilation CD is their promotional album. The album consists of 3 CDs. There's one for indie and electronic, one for pop and rock and one for hard rock and metal (of course, this is Finnish music afterall...). Personally I really like the first CD, the second CD has some good stuff on it and I don't much care for the last CD. you might've guessed this already if you know my music taste. Anyway, I think this has something for everyone. It's good that it's divided into three separate albums so everyone can choose music that fits their style.



This album features mostly English language songs, which I think is good, since no matter how much us Finns like our Finnish music, not many people who don't understand the language want to listen to it. Maybe bands where the lyrics are not a central thing anyway are okay.

The album starts with the song Into the Wilderness by Burning Hearts. This is a good slightly electronic indie pop song that sets the mood nicely. The song has a very Finnish melody, but otherwise it's a nice and international song. Casino by Shotgun Club is a pounding indie pop song that doesn't really show off with melodies. The sounds are okay, but the song itself is really boring just looping the same echoey psychedelic disco beat over and over again. Next up is An Anthem from the 80's by Koria Kitten Riot. This band is one of my favourite Finnish indie bands. They really know how to make catchy melodies. you will see this band's albums in this blog later on as well. Jos et sä soita by Regina is a great indie pop song with well-produced sounds and a catchy upbeat melody. I don't think it matters too much in this kind of music even if you don't understand the lyrics. Shining by Death Hawks is great psychedelic indie rock. I saw the band here in London performing in Notting Hill Arts Club. They have great sounds for the fans of hypnotic psych rock. Box Elder by Astrid Swan is an electronic indie pop hit with strange slightly off-beat and low-fi electronic sounds, including electronic sounding whip sounds. Behind These Walls by Big Wave Riders is a very typical 2010 era indie rock song with some disco beat drums and high pitched electric guitars. Very trendy, but already sounds a bit outdated six years later. Velvet Jam by The New Tigers is a great echoey indie pop rock song with shoegaze influences. No Death by Mirel Wagner is one of my favourite songs on this album. This haunted and scary folk song is a great example of Mirel Wagner's very unique intimate folk sound. Helsinki Art Scene by Satellite Stories is another prime example of early 2010's guitar indie songs. Very fashionable a few years ago, but also kind of irritating and already a bit old sounding. Handiclapton by DWNSTRS is a more experimental electronic song that has some HC and punk influences even if the sound is a bit softer. Sielun veljet is one of the most legendary shamanistic rock bands from the 80's. They made a shortlived comeback and their song Nukkuva hirviö from this era is on this album. Anthem 1 & 2 by Siinai is an amazing synth psych rock song. Siinai has later on collaborated with Moonface, the Canadian artist who has sung in Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs.

I'm not going through songs from the last two CDs individually, mainly because I don't like most of that stuff. I would only really recommend listening to rest of hte playlist if you're really into mainstream rock, pop, rap or heavy metal. The last two genres have been really popular in Finland for the past 20 years and I guess for fans of those genres there's lots to find from Finland, but I feel like I'm not the best person to talk about those styles.

This is a fairly good glimpse into Finland's music scene 6 years ago. I could definitely recommend you better songs and bands, but I guess this album has been curated specifically to appeal to wider audiences.

Listen to the album on Spotify.