The Chant, Rain Diary - Helsinki, Bar Loose 06-09-2013 (FIN)

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The Chant, Rain Diary - Helsinki, Bar Loose 06-09-2013 (FIN)

Sunday, 08 September 2013 21:36 |

Highly I had anticipated that night. For once, one could look forward to two bands' joint gig, whose style and aesthetics make a brilliant match - or so I thought at least. We are talking about Finland's Atmospheric Rock Masters The Chant and the hopeful SynthPop newcomer Rain Diary, whose common live-performance was hosted by the acclaimed venue Bar Loose in the heart of Helsinki. Things often turn out different than expected though, and so the night made me first and foremost realize that I had been wrong. In fact, I had been nursing (and heavily promoting) a major misunderstanding with regard to those bands.

The Chant and Rain Diary are not that much of an obvious match after all. In fact, sound-wise, they are hardly akin to one another these days. Even though both acts come from noticeably similar roots of soundscape-driven Melancholic Rock that breathes the spirit of late-nineties-Anathema, they have moved into totally opposite directions. And, most importantly, they come across totally differently live on stage. In fact, I was very curious about how arty Rain Diary's performance would be. As guitarist / bassist Joni Bitter had repeatedly pointed out in our interview, the band is aiming at creating a mind-flow for the listener / observer - by means of a good light show and video backdrops. Given that their YouTube-teaser for the upcoming debut album "The Lights are violent here" features a weirdly dancing lady (who happens to carry out her movements in a metro station in Berlin), I was kind of expecting an arty, introverted performance by the lady and the gentlemen. But then... far from it!

GOOD VIBES DESPITE DESPERATE TUNES

What was striking me right away, was how juvenile each and every band member came across upon entering the stage. Yes, juvenile. And I mean that first and foremost in the sense of being light-hearted and spreading good vibes. I mean, it was Rain Diary's pre-record release show after all, and the scenery was discouragingly empty. Except for some die-hard fans (some from abroad), and friends of the band members, no one really seemed to give a fuck about the band. The majority of people at Bar Loose were still upstairs, having a pint and being pretty much ignorant of the SynthPop sounds soaring in the basement. The band did not seem to be bothered by that played quite a down-to-earth-set. In contradiction of my expectations of them being kind of a Shoegaze band live, where no eye contact would be made with the audience, Rain Diary did connect with their listeners. Especially beautiful keyboardist Tytti Kallioniemi made me warm up to the band immediately, with her charming smiles and hippiesque style (barefoot on stage). But also vocalist Tommi Suomala played his part convincingly - between lunatic stares, dreamy-with-closed-eyes-singing and whimsical smiles he really stood his ground as the band's frontman. Sure, the somewhat androgynous guitar-tandem Teemu Rantanen and Joni Bitter were more on the Shoegazing side of things, but they clearly enjoyed themselves while performing, in what appeared to be an almost trance-like-state-of mind.

YOUNG IN SPIRIT

The music itself was oscillating between poppy, danceable tunes ("Mirror of Your Grace", "Lost") and synth-driven mellow ones ("You will die alone", "By the Water"). The few really rocky and heavy parts sounded especially intense, as they came in so little doses - and it came as a surprise that a band that´s first and foremost into melodies and sing-along-tunes, is not afraid of shedding sheer noise onto the audience. The sick screams that Tommi and Joni Bitter came up with in the last song were definitely something I did not see coming. However, there is clearly a of potential in this band, especially if they courageously explore both ends of their sound -Synth / Electropop and (noisy) Rock- in the future. The melodies and pretty piano lines shine all the brighter if they are contrasted by some major distortion, or sheer noise. At some point, the performance did feel a bit lame due to a lack of dynamics, and the band completely fucked up "By the Water" with Tommi forgetting the words, while the bass-backing track kept on spinning. In that sense, there were noticeable weaknesses both songwriting-and performance-wise, but one should remember that the band is just about to release its debut album. And, most importantly, the band enjoyed themselves while performing, and they showered the (admittedly tiny) audience with good vibes. And given Tommi Suomala´s traditionally Finnish take on lyrics ("You will die alone if you follow me...") it is remarkable that we speak about good vibes here in the first place. However, Rain Diary is a band we should definitely keep an eye on - there's something juvenile, genuinely enthusiastic and simply lovely about the band that strikes me as fairly (and refreshingly) "un-Finnish" - and I'm not only saying this because of the charming keyboardist.

BAND WITHOUT A FIGUREHEAD

The Chant are, as mentioned in the beginning, in hardly any way akin to Rain Diary, and in that sense, the two bands were not that much of a perfect match this night. The only striking similarity between them are the top-notch vocals, as even the voices and singing styles of Ilpo Paasela and Tommi Suomala are somewhat reminiscent to each other: Melodic and perfectly natural baritone voices that do hit the notes most of the time. This structural similarity, however, also sheds light how different paths the bands have taken - and examining the role of the vocals and the frontman in general is the best way of highlighting the juxtaposed operational modes of Rain Diary and The Chant. Whereas Suomala gets to be the classic frontman, Ilpo is still somewhat the underdog within his band's massive wall of sound, and thus, is far from being The Chant's figurehead. When Finland's Atmospheric Rock Masters entered the stage, they did what they always do: They evoked an emotional mist that rendered everyday life almost immediately invisible. In a way, The Chant are reliable guides into a hazy, somewhat surreal, but all in all harmonious parallel world. The band's entire appearance is monolithic, and a very somber atmosphere took over when the 7-piece opened up their set with "Outlines" and "Spectral Light". Performance-wise, The Chant were light years ahead of Rain Diary in terms of playing tightly together as a unit, and probably even in their musicianship overall. Even though not being overly technical or even narcissistic playing-wise, one could call The Chant's approach "progressive". I have heard many attempts of categorizing them over the years, be it "Tool light" or "Finnish Anathema" - all of it does ring true to some degree, but at the end of the day, The Chant is simply... The Chant.

STATUES WON'T SMILE

What that is in the first place, you might wonder? Well, it is brilliant, dense, cinematic music which is performed flawlessly by an "Anti-Mainstream-band", as I once termed them. Even though mastermind and guitarist Jussi "Maestro" Hämäläinen disagreed heavily with me when saying that The Chant doesn't write live-oriented music, I still hold on to that remark of mine. But, and that's the main conclusion I have to draw here, it is not so much about the music as such, it is the way it is performed by those guys. To put it bluntly: The Chant's performances are lacking "the human touch". The impersonal approach of going on stage and refusing eye-contact with the audience might do justice to the music and the aesthetic concept of the band, I admit that. But one side-effect of playing a show and cutting down communication with the audience is that it creates some sort of invisible wall right in front of the stage. Who would go to the merchandise corner after the gig and chat up a band that does not appear to make the slightest effort to really reach out to its audience? Under such circumstances, Ilpo's quest for being an emotional and breath-taking frontman are hopeless and doomed. In fact, his short speeches in between songs come across as pretty superfluous. The way I see it, the band should either shut themselves down from the audience completely (then the detachment would be a thorough and consequent artistic concept), or they should really work on bringing some more human touch to their shows. Of course it's a question of aesthetics and personal taste after all, but I for one get a far better vibe by performers who reach out to their audiences, who make them feel that they are "part of something". This does not necessarily involve playing the clown, but even if one plays sophisticated and somber music, a little smile would not hurt once in a while. Rain Diary have shown that it's possible.

In any case, The Chant turned out once again as a reliable force of providing a guided audio-visual trip away from everyday life - they are for sure the masters of their own reality, and it is difficult to not get into their grip. Also, the two new songs "The Falling Kind" and"Playwright" sounded amazing, and surprisingly catchy at times. But when it comes to warmth and bonding with a band, Rain Diarywere - even though not nearly as professional and tight as The Chant - the winners that evening. And I for one will rather remember the smiles that Tytti Kallioniemi and Tommi Suomala traded repeatedly when fucking up "By the Water" than the flawless musical performance of Meastro Hämäläinen and his band. After all, it is called live concert - in my humble opinion, musicians - no matter of which genre - should make an effort to act upon that. When watching a band live on stage, I'd rather want to see smiles than statues. Even if that's quite un-Finnish after all.

Text and Photos: Hendrik Behnisch - 08.09.2013

Last Updated (Wednesday, 28 May 2014 21:40)