Isis Rec.
Marja Mattlar : Polku (FIN,2007)***'
Finnish singer-songwriter Marja Mattlar seems to hang around these regions (France,Belgium) more often. Her debut was recorded in Paris under the guidance of producers/musicians Gabriel Yacoub & Patrice Clementin. After another, entirely Finnish album, she also did a live album called 'Marja Mattlar Belgiassa' (‘Marja Mattlar in Belgium’) recorded during her ‘96 and ‘97 concert tours in Belgium, as a duo with cellist Outi Rapia. Her third studio album Vesi (‘water’) was recorded mainly in Sweden and France with French, Swedish and Finnish musicians, with additional arrangements and production by Gabriel Yacoub and Jaakko Viitala. The Finnish heavy metal group Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus covered three of her songs between 2000 and 2002. So she invited the band for one track on her fourth album, and it was also produced by a former rock musician, Yari. This fifth album Polku (‘path’) is produced by Ilmari Issakainen and Tyko Saarikko, two members of the Finnish neofolk/ambient gothic band Tenhi.
As if behind a curtain, I need to lift the veil a bit to settle myself in this very nice, somewhat desolate but still gloomy sad music, with sparse arrangements of acoustic guitar, a bit of violin and cello, and keyboards. This is strong reflective song music with poetry in Finnish, but it could be in any language, because the voice expresses this just like another musical element, the same way that fingerpicking sounds contribute to a song. Translations in English are added in the booklet, so you can read through it, with some fitting minimal photographs of mostly leafs and branches. Nature is here taken as a strengthening metaphor providing the right transcending images for these reflections. Very nice, and very personal, but entirely comprehensible.
