Mikko Joensuu is a Finnish musician, singer and songwriter who’s known in his home country for his work in an indie-psychedelic-shoegaze band called Joensuu 1685. His solo debut Amen 1 is the first release in a planned trilogy of Americana-tinged folk-rock. It’s not at all overtly Scandinavian, except perhaps in its sense of sardonic pessimism, but its dark minor keys and chordal structures are more American than Finnish.
Joensuu’s publicity name-checks songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen. I’m not sure about the Townes reference; I hear more of a Scandinavian Father John Misty, and a bit of country-rock icon Gram Parsons in Mikko’s pleasantly reedy vocals, Hazlewood in some of the dusty, 70s-California arrangements, and Cohen in the sense of naked spiritual questing. That questing may have been the product of the 30-year-old’s search for a path forward after his former band split up. Of this album, he says, “It’s an effort to find balance between great sadness and beauty, and to understand the very strange state when one’s mind is close to collapse and yet at the same time more alive than ever.”
That sentiment turns up right off the bat on the first cut “Enjoy It While It Lasts,” which features a string section in addition to Mikko’s fingerpicked acoustic guitar and a pedal steel. It’s a slow, lazy waltz of a tempo that Gillian Welch or Bonnie “Prince” Billy would be comfortable with, so imagine if Gram Parsons had leaned more toward Chet Atkins-style countrypolitan arrangements, but sang lines like this one of Joensuu’s: “And when summer comes around everybody can forget they exist, even just for a while. Some of us, I guess, will never remember again…”
“Warning Sign” is another dirge-like waltz, about his tendency to rush in where angels fear to tread, as it were. The chorus has the strings again, and a backing choir, to complement the churchy piano arrangement. The dark, simple arrangement of “Thief And A Liar” magnifies the bleakness of the lyrics: “This road leads to the ruins of the city I was born, where God don’t exist and all hope is forlorn…” “Take Me Home, Oh Lord” has a melody and arrangement to match the title, like an old Lutheran hymn, but the lyrics have a strange, psychedelic bent.
Standout tracks among these weird riches are the closer, “City Of Gold,” a utopian hymn set to a simple arrangement of plucked resonator guitar; and “Closer To God,” perhaps the most enigmatic lyrically, set to an almost cheery, clopping beat. Take a listen:
Amen 1 is definitely a grower. These tunes are almost maddeningly catchy, the lyrics haunting, the arrangements and production arrestingly different. I’m eagerly awaiting the next two parts of this trilogy, scheduled for later in 2016 and spring 2017.
(Svart, 2016)
Mikko Joensuu has a website and is on Facebook.
