Heroin and Your Veins
Dead People's Trails
Solina
There isn't much I can tell you about the band, it being one Janne Perttula from Finland, other than don't be misled by the title, the song titles or the press this record has received, which somehow combine to covey a doomed bleakness. Nothing could be further from the scooped out, noir ennui which pervades every track, all instrumentals, and which leaves you with a guitar form of ambient that creates perfect night time background music, without meaning that any melodic disservice. I realise that may not have been the intention, but I find it all curiously relaxing.
It's divided into two sections, which must have some relevance, so first let us deal with "2:00 AM - THE STREET LIGHTS"
Janne admits to Angelo Badalamenti being an influence and you get that same wearied desolate guitar hanging in the air, every bit as beautiful now as when you first heard Chris Isaak doing it. 'The First Pain' is beautifully eerie, the smokey darkness blessed by that guitar and 'Diet And Cancer' succumbs with a chunky bass pulse, snappy percussion, fluid rather than urgent. 'Sand In Lungs' has more gently persuasive guitar, minimalist drums and observant bass, all curiously pretty. 'Romantic Dreams' is another gentle excursion into drowsiness, 'Polio' remains downbeat and softly shuddering, with 'The Dream Of A Lover' close to spy music, slower still, emptier. 'Intense Revulsion' is a tiny, forlorn sliver which takes us into the second section, "4:00 AM - THE CEILING" where 'Alone' shares that same wretched solitude.
'Absurd' suddenly takes on a brighter resolve, willowy and winsome, as 'Full Moon And Dry Humour' shimmers, all but optimistic! 'Perverted Dreams' retreats into itself without succumbing to inertia, so that the gliding 'Bad Luck' can softly envelop us, and wends, tired and tremulous into a new day.
Nothing stands out as an individual track, it's an ensemble album where the acquired character constantly nourishes itself when things seem overly familiar. It's a richly conceived, but sparsely populated piece which is peculiarly striking.
Just say Yes, as it were.