Rating: 9.5/10
Release: 29 February 2024
Label: Earth and Sky Production

Juha Jyrkäs released his second album “Väinämöinen” in February through Earth and Sky Production. This album, containing 8 tracks is inspired by the demigod Väinämöinen, a central figure in both Finnish and Karelian folklore. The lyrics are also focused on concepts like self-reflection, human feelings and becoming a bigger person in hard times, with a slight shade of an occult.

Musically speaking the album starts with the instrumental “Voima Nousee”, a track with dreamy atmospheres. In “Helkatulet” we can see the many variations on kantele and percussion, with a central part that enhances the percussion.  The seventh track “Kultapyärä” is the shortest track with a time of 1:48 minutes and is based on traditional Western Finnish folk poetry and uses Western Finnish dialect. The longest song, instead, is “Metallikantele” with its 12:45 minutes, during which we can see the exaltation of the kantele. Also worth noting is the contrast between harsh and melodic vocals that heightens the album’s dramatic nature to the extent of a film soundtrack. All lyrics are written in traditional Finnic Kalevala meter, a four-trochaic tetrameter. They are written in standard Finnish except the song “Kultapyärä”.

In conclusion this new work by Juha Jyrkas shows how a musician and writer is able to create good music and write good lyrics, making the listener pass 36 minutes with some really good music.

Tracklist

1. Voima nousee 02:20
2. Syntysanat 04:27
3. Jo veri jokena juoksi 02:25
4. Helkatulet 04:01
5. Ukkosloitsu 04:04
6. Äidinmaan puolustus 04:53
7. Kultapyärä 01:48
8. Metallikantele 12:45