With two success albums behind you and the first single from your third crowned the best Finnish song of 2008 expectations are immediately set quite high, but this doesn’t seem to have affected Iisa and Mikko Pykäri and the final third of electropop trio Regina, Mikko Rissanen, when hatching ‘Puutarhatrilogia’.

I won’t even try to be clever about their lyrics as my Finnish skills are limited to a count to three, but quoting the press release they work with “snapshot like stories of every day life”. Musically they elegantly mix pop sensations from the 1960s and forward, electronica and various world music styles (weird term, by the way: World Music – isn’t it all by now?) to a fascinating layer cake of contemporary electropop.

The already saluted first single ‘Saanko Jäädä Yöksi?’ (“Can I stay the night?” according to the Google translator) is a prime example of the Regina spectre with its discrete, thumping Casio-beat below a running two-finger piano theme in the verse, a dance floor electro chorus (without going completely bonkers), a short touch of rumba in the second verse and a bit of tribal congas towards the end.

Other standout tracks on this trip around the world are opening song ‘Vapaus’, its part 80s computer game synths and Iisa Pykäri’s vocal painting images of Japan, the mesmerizing ‘Terveiset Päiväntasaajalta’ and ‘Sain Levyt Joita Et Halua Kuunnella’ sporting a laid back latin lounge feel. ‘Tapaa Minut Aamulla’ is great pop in quirky disguise, while the beautiful ‘Tango Merellä’ takes us to a small French village on the shores of, say, Normandy where even the seagulls respect the serenity.

Translating in to “Garden Trilogy” (judging the album by the cover and the minor feeling throughout fall and winter seem to be the seasons of inspiration), ‘Puutarhatrilogia’ indeed sports a very organic feel in spite of the electronica building blocks and together with a remarkable ease to the restrained, somewhat naïve and yet complex compositions this makes Regina a truly pleasant encounter.

Genre: Pop
Who: Regina
Album: Puutarhatrilogia
Label: Pyramid/Johanna Kustannus
Year: 2009
Country: Finland
Language: Finnish
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Recommended tracks:
Vapaus – Tapaa Minut Aamulla – Terveiset Päiväntasaajalta – Saanko Jäädä Yöksi? – Sain Levyt Joita Et Halua Kuunnella – Tango Merellä