Review: Pekka Laine ‘Pekka Laine & The Enchanted In Slumberland’
As a fan of surf inflected artists such as Man Or Astro-Man?, Agent Orange and East Bay Ray (Dead Kennedys), I had the privilege of reviewing Pekka Laine‘s 2021 solo debut The Enchanted Guitar Of Pekka Laine for The Shaman. Unlike a lot of the aforementioned artists, Pekka embodies a more adventurous musical spirit, one heavily informed by psychedelia, Joe Meek and Morricone soundtracks, all ingredients which help make his work so captivating.

The album’s title according to the promotional notes is ‘inspired by the super-trippy Little Nemo comic strip classic from 1905…bursting with echoing guitars and swirling Technicolor landscapes… a gateway to the realm of imagination and dreams’, this is definitely one trip I’m on board for.
The Ruhr is a densely populated urban area in North West Germany incorporating cities such as Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum, unsurprisingly therefore Ruhr By Night brings with it a pulsating krautrock vibe reminiscent of Neu! and Harmonia. An absolutely captivating opener. Malibu Beach brings a shift in tone, warm funky disco vibes that might have been found in New York’s Studio 54 in the late 1970’s as well as more contemporary flavours such as Daft Punk, especially in the employment of vocoder style vocals. A daring track which could have fallen flat on its face, yet which has been tastefully crafted.
The Drifter has a jangle-pop and Americana sensibility, the former recalling a band such as REM while the latter evokes the likes of Green On Red and Medicine Show era The Dream Syndicate. It’s performed so convincingly that you forget Pekka is in fact Finnish, and not from say the desert wilds of California. Sorrow And Pain introduces us to Houston-born Jay Nemor‘s deep resonant Mark Lanegan style vocals, with a little Lee Hazlewood peppered in for good measure recalling tracks such as Some Velvet Morning, all of which help bring a heavier organic feel to the record’s otherwise whimsical musical approach.
there’s an undeniable charm to everything Laine does which makes this such an irresistibly warm and engaging listen…
Preludio or prelude is a twenty-five-second lightly strummed acoustic Mexican style piece that helps introduce the listener to Lucifer Dreaming, a deeply moving sounding ballad that hits you at your emotional core. A personal favourite. Sunflower Kid with its bounciness and outright joy feels like a slice of 1970s easy listening/pop cheese, the kind of instrumental you may have found on shows like The Partridge Family for instance. This may sound galling, but once again there’s an undeniable charm to everything Laine does which makes this such an irresistibly warm and engaging listen.
December Skies is an interlude, laden with juicy reverb and delicately played electronica that offers the listener something of a respite, while Landola is a tribute to a type of acoustic guitar that was made in Finland in the 1960s, which coincidentally on a musical level feels like it was lifted from that particular era what with shades of folk and psych making their presence felt.
Speaking of the ‘60s, Veronica Was Here has a Beatles-esque power-pop and girl group feel, the title even tying it to that time period while Fumemos Un Cigarillo is a nostalgic fond harken back to Pekka‘s debut full-length, what with the effortlessly cool slinky surf and Morricone sounds offered here. Finally, Slumberland channels shoegaze along the lines of Slowdive’s Sing, incorporating, as it does, a dreamy psychedelia and Eno style ambience thus rendering it the ideal concluding piece.
Compared to In Slumberland, Laine‘s aforementioned debut feels like a warm-up. For this record, the gloves are truly off with rampant unabashed musical experimentation all of which is perfectly executed.
Label: Svart Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills