Over the weekend we discovered a new Scandinavian lady singer that we’d never heard of before. Her new album ‘Seili’ is currently sitting at number 5 in the Finnish album chart – now in its fourth straight month of residency in the top 5, after peaking at number 1. Her name is Jenni Vartiainen, and despite us never hearing of her before, ‘Seili’ is actually her second album. Her first was released in 2007, and she actually found fame earlier on last decade when she won a place in the girlband of the first season of Finland’s Popstars show.
The album is astonishingly good. Out of ten tracks, there’s not a single one that we don’t like. Which of course is very rare for an album. Too rare. Beautiful is the best word to describe it. The ballads are the best bits, and the instrumentation on each is spellbindingly good. It’s a strong, cohesive album – haunting and atmospheric throughout. Traits which are complimented we feel, by the fact that the album is sung entirely in Finnish. It’s on Spotify, so we’d recomment you all give it a listen. Each of the tracks are also on youtube. But for now, we’ll post our three favourite songs from the record. The lead single, and the two best ballads.
We’ve yet to listen to her first album, but we’ll be doing that this week. Plus, the popheart inside of us will also make sure that we check out the three albums from her old Popstars girlband, Gimmel!Hooray – a new musical obsession!
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- posted on 07/09/2010 19:48:07
I'm on holiday 
- posted on 07/09/2010 15:05:29
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You HAVE to listen to her first album if for no other reason than “Ihmisten Edessä.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKidLh1Ryq4
The haunting melody, the lyrics, the way her gorgeous voice coyly invites you in–surely one of the biggest achievements in Nordic pop in the past few years. Thank the pop gods for Teemu Brunila.
I’m totally in love with this girl, even though I don’t understand any word. I listened to her new album over the last months.
You might also wanna give Chisu a listen. Her music has some similar elements. ‘Vapaa ja yksin’ is one of the best albums I’ve hear in a while and it’s also on Spotify.
You really don’t follow Finnish music life, if you haven’t heard about Jenni Vartiainen. Good thing you heard about her now. I would recommend watching more carefully what’s going on in Finnish music life. There are lots of good bands and artists.
Like Mike, I recommend Chisu and also Anna Puu if you liked Jenni Vartiainen. But there are others too.