Disc rating|Dalindèo has finally updated its sound world of a bygone era to be modern, writes critic Harri Uusitorppa.
Rhythm music
Dalindeo: Tropicalia Nordica. KHY Suomen Musiikki.
★★★★
Nordic from the wire-like electric guitar sound of the opening track that oozes nostalgia, you might already guess that it is the soloist Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen, founder, leader, composer and arranger of the band Dalindèo. But something seems to have changed.
Dalindèo’s sixth album also has unexpected distortions and effects – and gradually the feeling that the songs echoes of newer dance music is getting stronger.
Multi-style Dalindèo, which specializes in instrumental music, has finally updated its sound world of a bygone era to be a little more modern – or rather updated it.
Tropicalia Nordica the mixer and the second producer are from the younger generation Olli Palmunenwhose work list has included, among others, Isaac Sene, Curry Dog and Yes.
Time will tell how the update is heard on a live stage, or if it is heard at all. But at least the twenty-year-old Dalindèo is on the record is more charged and freed than before and perhaps more danceable again. This is also reflected in the names of the songs, where two have the word Twist, one has ska, one has Stomp and one has surf.
The more relaxed approach has probably been influenced by the fact that the conceptual framework of Dalindèo’s previous fifth album was quite serious and social. Pöyhönen composed the album Follow The Dark Money (2020) after reading books on international arms trade and tax evasion.
Name Tropicalia Nordica hints at a different angle of entry and can make you wait for a half-hearted return to the roots. Already founded in 2003, Dalindèo performed on their debut album Open Scenes (2006) “brazilicaa”, a sort of cross between European club jazz and Brazilian Bossa Nova.
Tropicália was another Brazilian product of about the same era, an art movement. Its young rebellious musicians encouraged interest in all kinds of new and strange – from psychedelic rock to electronic music, from jazz to the academic avant-garde.
It may be that Pöyhönen thought of the name when tasting this tropicália, but Tropicalia Nordica there is still nothing Brazilian or other South American. Geographically, the one that half refers to Jamaica is the closest Ska Twista typical dalindè-like rhythmic musical combination.
Tropicalia Nordica seems to be just a name, not a thematic framework structuring the music. Not like the Kallio district was on the Emma-awarded album Rock (2013) or like Slavism was on the record Slavic Souls (2016).
Tropicalia Nordica is “just” a collection of catchy pop songs of no more than four minutes long, which you feel like playing over and over again, maybe even twisting sometimes. And now that’s just fine.
Dalindèo’s album release concert at Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo (Töölönkatu 51 B) Wed 29.5. The second concert was organized in the cultural center of Espoo on Friday 24 May.
Correction May 26, 2024 at 10:15 p.m.: The rap artist Yeboyah was earlier mistakenly referred to as Yeboah in the article.
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