Review by Cora Price, Fraser Valley Blues Society
My first taste of Lena & the Slide Brothers, after
receiving their newly released CD IV, was a lovely surprise. The CD offers 10 original
blues tunes from this Finnish band. The CD is produced by Hannu Leiden.
The band formed in 2009 and this is their fourth release.
They’ve been winning awards and ripping it up all over Finland, Sweden, Estonia
& Italy but have yet to debut in North America. Hope they will find their
way over the pond, sometime soon.
Lena Lindroos is the voice behind the band, but also plays
bass, Hammond organ & piano. Matti
Kettunen offers up strong electric, acoustic and slide guitar, mandolin and
percussion, as well as backup vocals. Juha Litmanen adds the drum line and Yka
Putkinen rounds out the sound on electric and slide guitar.
Impressive backup vocals featured by Emilia Sisco &
Maria Hanningen, combine with Lena’s, to create a full sound as demonstrated on
track 1 – Your Kind of Woman, 3 – Not Your Fault and 8 – New Kind of Soldier. Lena’s voice is sweet as honey. She has the
lungs to belt it out, but also brings it down slow and easy, as heard on Blue
Side of the Town.
Harmonica, featured by Helge Taliqvist can be found on track
# 7 – Late Night Watchdog Blues. There’s also Teijo Tikkanen on organ and piano
on this CD.
The CD begins with a shuffle featuring great catchy slide
guitar riffs on Your Kind of Woman. There’s a video release for this tune on
UTube (https://youtu.be/CdQxtRErvM8).
My favorite cut is 5 – Eldorado, which reminds me of Stevie
Ray Vaughn’s style and had me moving and grooving as I listened. Very catchy tune.
The cut, Not Your Fault, featuring Hannu Leiden on backup
vocals, offers an interesting story of a Grandmother and boy, trying to make
it, after fleeing their home on a train. The lyrics will speak to anyone who
has been a refugee. The lament “It’s not your fault”, carries a strong message
for all caught in the cycle of self-blame, when circumstance take us places
we’d rather not be.
Videos of the band, provide a glimpse of the fun they have
while on stage. My impression is they would be wonderful to see live and up
close. They enjoy their time together and love what they are doing.
Overall, this well produced CD provides original tunes that
are scrumptious and well written and the musicianship top notch. The
compositions offer lyrics that catch you listening for the details, to really
hear the words and understand the story behind them. The beat and rhythm makes
the body move and the foot tap. Well done!
You can explore this band further by visiting their website:
http://lenatheslidebrothers.com.