Burning Hearts - Modern times (video)

Finland's Burning Hearts finally have an official video for their sublime single "Modern times".

PopMatters reviews Burning Hearts

PopMatters gives a passing grade to Burning Hearts' latest record "Extinctions": http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/158173-burning-hearts-extinctions/

MP3: Burning Hearts - Into the wilderness

Indiepop for the melancholy set. The connections to Magenta Skycode should be fairly obvious, though it must be said that Burning Hearts' sonic ambitions are a touch less grandiose. No matter really, I'm a big fan of both acts and BH's latest record "Extinctions" is getting lots of repeat plays 'round these parts in recent days. Dunno what took me so long to come around, but it finally clicked.

Burning Hearts - Into the wilderness

NYC Pop Fest to feature Speedmarket Avenue, Burning Hearts, more

Scandinavian acts confirmed for this year's NYC Pop Fest in May: Speedmarket Avenue, Burning Hearts, Lisa Bouvier, Pushy Parents and The Electric Pop Group. Dates and details: http://www.nycpopfest.org/line-up.html

Burning Hearts
Extinctions
Solina Records/Shelflife Records

Burning Hearts' second full-length "Extinctions" is a treat. Delving into description disguised as heavy-handed metaphor would be a disservice to such a carefully crafted, thoughtful album, so I'll simple start with a hearty "wow." (It's worth noting the decision to forgo poetics was made after several spins marked by hand flailing and randomly squealed superlatives)

Yeah. It's good.

Other than injecting a note of mystery to their otherwise light-as-air pop confections -- perfected with the debut, "Aboa sleeping" -- very little has changed since the last time we met the Finnish quintet. Not that anything needed altering. The band has created another charming outing that leans just as much on French pop as Scandinavian melancholy, its nine tracks (including "The swallows" and "Into the wilderness" which first hit ears with last year's excellent "Into the wilderness" EP) splitting the difference between wistful refrains and modern synths. The album benefits heartily from vocalist Jessika Rapo's latter-day Nico delivery, but nowhere does it hit such heights as on "Love and dissonance", the soaring line, "Beautiful, beautiful sing me a song the way you used to do," rendered downright beatic in her melodic whisper. On "The best" her languid call hopscotches over the band's near near-folk instrumentation, complete with steel drum backing. But perhaps most surprising is "The swallows", where their formula of gentle instrumentation is turned on its head in favor of 1980s synths, with Rappo as a slow-motion dancing queen. Sure, their music is still sweet, but "Extinctions" -- in all its subtle variations -- only servers to demonstrate that Burning Hearts should be considered pop heavy weights.
- Laura Studarus

Burning Hearts - Burn burn burn

"Burn burn burn" is the new single from Finnish indie act Burning Hearts, coming off the band's 2nd full-length album "Extinctions" which will be released on February 1 via Solina Records.

Interview: Burning Hearts

Shelflife unveils new Burning Hearts EP

Shelflife Records has posted preorder info for the new EP "Into the wilderness" from Finnish indie act Burning Hearts, due out June 21: http://www.shelflife.com/catalogue/LIFE075.html
Check the sidebar for a free download of the title track and keep an eye out for a new EP from Danish act Balloon Magic on the label sometime later this summer.

New Burning Hearts single in February

Shelflife Records has announced that they'll be releasing the new Burning Hearts 7" single "Night animal" on January 26.

Fanfarlo
Reservoir
self-released

I'm more than a little late to the Fanfarlo party. Only last week did I first hear about them from the Sigur Rós mailing list, months after the release of "Reservoir" and the subsequent chorus of praise from the likes of Rough Trade, NME, and Brooklyn Vegan -- praise that is well deserved. Centered around Swedish musician Simon Balthazar, the London-based songsmiths temper their Arcade Fire-like sound with Scandinavian influences, at times bringing to mind Pelle Carlberg, Loney Dear, and Burning Hearts, though their inclination towards the atmospheric and epic flesh out these influences in pleasantly unexpected ways. The only issue I run into with Fanfarlo is that they are far better on tracks like "Comets", a track that wouldn't have felt amiss on Carlberg's "In a nutshell", than on the overtly Arcade Fire-esque "Drowning men". This is not to say that "Drowning men" is a bad song, it's not (in fact it's quite good), it just taps so strongly into the "Neighborhood #1 (tunnels)" vein, without filtering the idea through Fanfarlo's obvious talents, that it feels somewhat out of place on "Reservoir". That said, "Resevoir" is a fantastic album (especially as you can download it for $1 until July 4), pushing its frenetic pop structures to their limits, driving them down adventitious avenues and back alleyways, and constantly unveiling new layers upon repeated listening.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Burning Hearts
Aboa sleeping
Shelflife Records

Everything about Burning Hearts just seems to fit - from the beautifully conceived cover art (that reminds me of the early dust jackets of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's cradle") to the whirling swells of pop instrumentation that provide the landscape for Jessika Rapo's voice (one that wonderfully channels Nico at times) to glide along. There is a twee playfulness reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura, but Burning Hearts are very much a collaboration that could only have come together in Scandinavia. Opener "I lost my colour vision" exists somewhere between Club 8 and Moonbabies, and "Aboa sleeping" continues to transverse this Nordic territory throughout with a dexterity that only echoes certain bands, Granada and The Chrysler among them, without feeling weighed down by their influence. "Aboa sleeping" is a lavishly imagined pop album, one where my favorite tracks has shifted almost every listen. There is one stumble on the record, however - the strangely conceived "The galloping horse" was removed from my iTunes quite quickly (I can only listen to the sound of heart arrhythmia and a narrator from a 1950s-style medical instructional film played over an arpeggiated synthline so many times). Stumbles and arrhythmia aside, "Aboa sleeping" is one of the best albums Shelflife has put out, and Burning Hearts have proven themselves one of the strongest members of a very strong label roster.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Volumes C+D of 'Birdsongs, beesongs' now available

The last two volumes of Eardrums spring mix "Birdsongs, beesongs" are finally released today and available for free download: http://eardrumsmusic.com/2009/04/29/birdsongs-beesongs-eardrums-spring-compilation-2009-finally-complete/
As with the previous editions, many Scandinavian artists are represented such as Burning Hearts, Twig, The Greencoats, Hiawata! and more.

DOA on 'Aboa sleeping'

Delusions of Adequacy reviews Finnish indiepop act Burning Hearts: http://www.adequacy.net/2009/03/burning-hearts-aboa-sleeping/

The Radio Dept. confirmed for NYC Popfest

The Radio Dept. and Burning Hearts are both confirmed for NYC Popfest in May. Details: http://www.myspace.com/nycpopfest

PopMatters reviews Burning Hearts

PopMatters reviews Finnish indiepop act Burning Hearts: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/71068-burning-hearts-aboa-sleeping