TAVAT: Tavat (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

If Tavat is a name that won't tell you anything (yet), Sammal on the other hand will not fail to evoke for the lover of progressive and joyfully woody fragrances one of the most talented heirs of the Finnish folk progressive scene. What is the link between the two bands? It's quite simple, Juhaini Laine, former keyboardist of the latter, is now starting a solo career under the banner of this fresh Tavat, whose eponymous album is the visiting card.

Solo perhaps, but neither alone nor far from his previous home base since Juhaini has (well) surrounded himself with the members of Sammal, notably Jan-Erik Kiviniemi on vocals, while numerous musicians enrich his colourful palette of instruments, some expected (drums in the hands of the mercenary Taneli Manninen), others much less so (trombone, vibraphone). The singers Emilia Roos and Maiju Oikarinen bring a touch of femininity to a project that we can imagine musically rustling with a forest shimmer.

The proximity with Sammal is not only human because Tavat wanders on the same rural path. The keyboards are everywhere, weaving a carpet of velvety and tenderly bucolic ambiences ('Vaarat Ja Virrat') or even almost jazzy ('Äreä Aamunkoito'), even if the lines become harder at times, like on the opening track 'Puolimieli' or 'Kustu Toisaale', whose stronger rhythmic is coupled with this organ sound as if it had escaped from the 70s.

Of instrumental essence, this opus nevertheless draws its flowery poetry from the male vocals in Finnish ('Oljenkorsi') while its soft melancholy flows from these feminine melodies which are in turn seductive ('Pohjoinen') or spectral ('Kehdon Koettelemus'). It is in these sometimes disenchanted tones that Tavat draws his personality. Haunted by the imminent death of his father, with whom he collaborated for the last time (he signed the album cover), Juhaini Laine couldn't detach himself from this marauding death by composing an opus which, in spite of everything, never totally sinks into affliction, preferring to face the great reaper in a peaceful way.

With this beautiful album of typically Finnish antediluvian progressive rock, Tavat now presents with Sammal two excellent bands, even if one can wonder how the latter will survive the departure of its keyboard player, who was no stranger to its charm. Answer with "Aika Laula" that he releases on his side at the same time... - Official website

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PROGRESSIVE ROCK