Nine of Finland’s finest acts will be performing at The Great Escape 2014.
Stream Spotify Playlist
As the focus country for The Great Escape this year, Finland will be flooding our ears with a variety of alluring sounds at the feted new music festival hosted in Brighton 8th – 10th May. Whether it’s Jaakko Eino Kalevi’s strutting psych pop that fires you up, Satellite Stories joyful indie anthems, Mirel Wagner’s torch songs, Sin Cos Tan’s icy synth pop or The New Tigers’ shoegaze tunes, these sterling acts prove Finland is a nation bursting with Nordic musical creativity. Domino and Sub Pop certainly know that, signing Jaakko and Mirel respectively in the past 6 months.
The Great Escape are hosting a Finnish takeover of their Tumblr all week, dedicating their Band of the Day slots to each of the Finnish line-up.
You can also listen to all the acts on this handy Spotify playlist
The full Finnish nine appearing are:
Jaakko Eino Kalevi
Mirel Wagner
NEØV
The New Tigers
Satellite Stories
The Scenes
Sin Cos Tan
Suvi
Von Hertzen Brothers
Tickets are available to buy for The Great Escape 2014 here.
More about Finland at The Great Escape
Jaakko Eino Kalevi
A self-taught instrumentalist who’s happiest behind the drums, Helsinki’s Jaakko Eino Kalevi plays, sings and self-produces softly psychedelic pop, blended with funk and folk. His debut EP ‘Dreamzone’ (Weird World) is a hugely enticing window into Jaakko’s world – a colourful, magical place where everything happens in its own time and nature and technology get along harmoniously.
Watch the beautiful, sprawling video for ‘No End’:
Mirel Wagner
Mirel Wagner melds subversive lyricism against a backdrop of spare and minimalist folk. Her 2012, self-titled debut, led by the haunting narratives of singles ‘No Death’ and ‘Joe’, earned the singer-songwriter acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, The Times and Pitchfork. This year she joined the Sub Pop roster and is set for an eagerly awaited worldwide release.
Watch the poignant video for ‘Joe’ here:
NEØV
NEØV is the newest project from brothers Anssi and Samuli Neuvonen, who hail from a small town among the beautiful blue lakes and tree-covered islands of the Finnish Lakeland. Their debut album ‘Orange Morning’ was released in 2012 by FullStream, presenting floating melodies and flowing rhythms mixed with layered guitars, dozy keyboards and horns that reflect their surroundings – expansive but quiet, grandiose but intimate – perfectly.
Watch the video for atmospheric shoegaze track ‘Mellow’ here:
The New Tigers
The Turku four-piece return to the UK with their hypnotic shoegaze pop. After their self-titled debut in 2011, The New Tigers shot off to play a huge number of shows across Finland, Scandinavia and the UK (including a memorable performance at Ja Ja Ja). During this time, they cooked up some brand new, fuzzy indie gems for second album ‘The Badger’, released last year on legendary Helsinki independent Soliti.
Watch the Super 8 montage for single ‘Secondary City’:
Satellite Stories
Hailing from Oulu, northern Finland, Satellite Stories have topped HypeMachine several times and filled venues all over Europe with their irresistibly energetic indie pop songs. Their reputation for brilliant, brightening live performances led them to an amazing 21 festival appearances last summer, including Helsinki’s Flow Festival, Sweden’s Hultsfred and Holland’s Lowlands.
Watch the lyric video for ‘Australia (Don’t Ever Let Her Go)’:
The Scenes
The Scenes are an experimental band creating music that falls somewhere between hardcore punk and progressive rock. Also from Oulu, they are led by singer Konsta Koivisto and all under the age of 23. After an extensive countrywide Finnish tour last year, they’re ready to bring their shamelessly energetic live show to the UK.
Watch the brand new video for ‘Anorexia Is Boring’:
Sin Cos Tan
A collaboration between Jori Hulkkonen and Juho Paalosmaa, synth-pop duo Sin Cos Tan have two albums, a host of packed-out festival appearances and a big dose of musical experience. This is the latest in a two-decade series of Hulkkonen’s projects that’s featured releases with Tiga, Pet Shop Boys’ Chris Low and Jose Gonzales and with Paalosmaa’s emotive pop vocals, Sin Cos Tan easily stands up to them all.
Watch the fittingly unsettled video for ‘Limbo’:
Suvi
Based in Stockholm, Suvi Richter was born in Finland and grew up surrounded by the sparse beauty of its natural landscape. The result is a sweetly crafted, atmospheric and orchestral pop sound reminiscent of Woodkid or Björk and with a hint of Peter Gabriel. Her music will tell you best: one can get lost and be found again.
Watch the video for debut single ‘Clovers’:
Von Hertzen Brothers
Five-time Finnish album chart toppers Von Hertzen Brothers play modern prog pop, blending familiar elements of classic rock with unique rhythms and abstract scales. The brothers have established something of a cult following over the years, know for their vocal harmonies, live rock and roll attitude and impressive volume of work.
Watch the video for Progressive Music Award-winning single ‘Flowers and Rust’: