Pauanne

Pauanne are an eye- and ear-catching trio from Finland. They revel in the darker, pre-Christian sounds of the folk tradition rather than the jovial or nostalgic, and they make apt contemporary metaphors. Their song ‘Rauta’ likens an ancient Finnish spell for a protective wall with beliefs in 21st century America, not because, I think, they support Trump's Mexican wall but because they like the way the same concerns reappear across the centuries. Pauanne was the name of the thunder god whose help was sought for the wall. Most of the tracks include archive recordings of music or songs seamlessly woven into the music of Kukka Lehto (violin, keyboards), Eero Pennanen (keyboards) and Janne Haavisto (drums and percussion).

‘Siihen Laihin Eläny’ (That's the Way I've Lived) is based on a 17th century witch trial for a poor woman just trying to survive, while the booklet quotes some extraordinarily sexist statements from different periods on the intellectual inferiority of women. ‘Akkojen Hommia’ (Womanish Work) samples a woman's cow herding song and apparently in the 17th century men were prohibited from being cowherds because they tended to have sex with the cows. Finland seems a much more eccentric place after listening to this album. Pauanne won the Newcomer award in this year's Ethnogala in Helsinki.