Husky Rescue at Korjaamo
Finnish electro-pop purveyors Husky Rescue played a shimmering and intimate set Saturday night at Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo (Korjaamo Culture Factory) in Helsinki as part of El Camino Label Night. This was Husky Rescue’s only hometown gig this fall for fans lucky enough to attend.
I was not able to see the opening set by label-mate, Tiiu Helinä, whose debut full-length, Brother, will be released November 5th. But one listen to Helinä’s SoundCloud offerings suggest that it will be an album that fans of Husky Rescue or Sigur Rós will also surely enjoy.
One could easily argue Husky Rescue is Finland’s answer to Iceland’s Sigur Ros. They employ a building, lullaby-like ambiance, subdued yet powerful, that makes you feel more tingly than sleepy.
Husky Rescue has been around since 2002, but this was my first time seeing them live. The current lineup is founder Marko Nyberg (effects, bass, vocals), Antony Bently (guitars, effects) and Johanna Kalén (vocals, bass). I first heard of them when they played in my former home of Minnesota in the US in 2006, but my interest was re-kindled after moving to Finland and hearing their 2004 single “Summertime Cowboy” on Radio Helsinki.
Acrobat at Husky Rescue’s Korjaama show
After the recording of the band’s 2010 album Ship of Light, long-standing singer Reeta-Leena Vestman was replaced by Swedish vocalist Kalén, and though Saturday’s set relied heavily on selections from that album, the songs took on new life with the addition of Kalén’s vocals. If the band’s first single with the current lineup “Deep Forest Green” is an indication of the chemistry possible between the band and Kalén, I look forward to the new full-length the band is expected to release in the spring of 2013.
Saturday night’s “in-the-round” show featured an acrobat spinning on a hoop suspended above the crowd, two string players in flowing full-length gowns, and employed a cinematic theme of lights and cut-out leaves through the 75 minute performance, similar to the theme employed in the Laura Väinölä-directed video for “Deep Forest Green.
The audience was encouraged to relax by lying down or sitting, which almost everyone did. Latecomers tiptoed in and stood near the back. The set itself built, beginning in almost a hush and ending with something a little short of a roar.
For an encore they brought the fiddle players back on stage for “Sleep Tight Tiger,” which you can see her in a video captured on video by a fan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3QrjdOAilU.
Husky Rescue’s next show is at Scala in London, November 12th.
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