SWALLOW THE SUN
Moonflowers CENTURY MEDIA
A DEEPLY PASSIONATE WORK OF ART AND A TRIUMPH ON ALL LEVELS.
Hauntingly beautiful prog doom from Finnish masters.
Just how far will someone go in pursuit of artistic expression? In the case of Juha Raivio, the answer is ‘pretty far’. Swallow The Sun’s guitarist, lyricist and mastermind literally spilled his own blood to incorporate it into the image that adorns the Finnish prog doom maestros’ eighth album, Moonflowers.
Raivio takes an equally extreme approach to the music here. This an emotionally dark descent into his subconscious as he reveals things about himself that others might have kept hidden. ‘Will the dark side of your heart make amends in the light?’ run his lyrics on Enemy, while Woven Into Sorrow
features the harrowing line: ‘I swore I wouldn’t give in, but all I have is you, The One.’
It could have been claustrophobic or outright depressing, yet Raivio makes it palatable by allowing vocalist Mikko Kotamäki to bring his own interpretations to those innermost fears and thoughts. The fact that the singer is one step removed from his bandmate’s inner turmoil provides him with a broader canvas and ensures he isn’t weighed down by Raivio’s clearly troubled soul.
Unsurprisingly, the music matches that dark, downbeat mood throughout, yet there’s an elegance to it that ensures it’s never overshadowed by the heavy duty subject matter. The combination of Raivio’s guitar with Jaani Peuhu’s keyboards summons moments of symphonic grandeur that linger in the mind long after they’ve faded. This is certainly true of Keep Your Heart Safe From Me, which has a gothic hue transposed next to an erudite melodic swell. It’s also here that Kotamäki displays an ability to switch from sweetly soothing vocals to menacing growls in a millisecond, thereby capturing the emotional desperation of lines such as, ‘Throw me into the sea, chain into the pain feel.’
The mournful pace of each track is steady and sturdy, and at no point do the band feel disposed towards lightening the atmosphere. To do this would have been to diminish the overall impact, which is emotionally seismic. Nor is there a time when the listener feels that the music has to be switched off because there’s no respite. On the contrary, the eight songs here are in the hands of such skilled performers that the result is a cohesive and entrancing album that never dips or deviates from its purpose, which is to give a startling insight into a tormented soul.
Is this a confessional? Is it therapy? Perhaps both, but ultimately what Swallow The Sun have done is to use the vulnerability of Raivio’s persona to create a deeply passionate work of art that’s a triumph on all levels.