It seems that there’s been a bit of a drive lately to alter Finland’s musical perspective. For too long, the country has been seen primarily as purveyors of metal, and the land that catapulted Lordi to Eurovision infamy. To dive into business jargon, 2013 has seen something of a paradigm shift, and while the likes of Beastmilk continue to attract attention, Madame De C*** are also doing Helsinki proud (and there’ll be more on that next week…) and today’s band The New Tigers throw themselves into the mix with a sparkling brand of shoegaze-flavoured indie as they gear up for their sophomore album release.
New record The Badger is both a reason to keep the New Tigers as one to watch, as well as remaining hesitant to proclaim them “the next big thing” just yet. Second track ‘Secondary City’ is a solid effort and ‘Antarktis’ is a floaty, slowly drifting relaxant made to space out to, but to get to them (assuming you prefer to listen to albums linearly) you have to get through the opener of ‘Where Is It’, where strained-sounding vocals end up detracting from an overall simple but effective instrumental backing. Luckily this doesn’t become a running theme, and the pros far outweigh the cons on the album as a whole. ‘Blue Fell’ is a blissful descent into a more atmospheric side of the quartet, while ‘Quicksilver’ boasts a delightful little “bass vs. glockenspiel” intro to preface a seven minute dose of happy-go-lucky indie pop. With three of the last four tracks crossing the six minute mark, perhaps the band could do more to keep listeners hooked into the album’s closing stages but there can be no doubt that The Badger, due out on December 2nd, is well worth a look if you fancy a fresh shot of fuzzed out, transportative soft rock to zone out to.
There has been a decent amount of music already made available by the four-piece (including two singles from The Badger), and ‘Velvet Jam’ is a glimpse into the band’s past, growing from a few short bars of guitar into an effect-laden haze of instruments and vocals, proving that even if something is a little bit “by the numbers”, it can still be more than worthy of praise. ‘Pocketful of Sand’ is another early one, and with its first couple of opening notes reminiscent of the bass intro to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Around the World’, it feels like something impressive is being built up to. You’d have a hard time arguing that they disappoint, and the track turns out to be quite a summery flourish, certainly not something Helsinki is particularly well known for delivering.
The New Tigers are growing out of their home country, and growing on a whole lot of new listeners as they extend their reach across Scandinavia and into the UK. The new record should see them popping back over here in no time, so now is as good a moment as any to really sink your teeth into what could be the latest addition to the throng of fuzzed out indie bands that Britain can never seem to get enough of.
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