c o n r a d

Uzva's debut album had established them as a group of interest on the fringes of progressive rock. Sometimes jazzy, sometimes proggish, sometimes mellow, sometimes quirky, Tammikuinen Tammela was a strong album with many good points. For me, however, this follow-up album is where the band comes of age. The first six tracks form two three-part suites. For the first two parts of "Soft Machine," we are in familiar territory with a soft atmospheric introduction leading into a more upbeat second part which spends most of its time in 5/4. The atmospheric opening is more appealing to me than the slightly stilted, formal sections of the first album, but it is on track 3 that the group show how they intend to develop. Here, Uzva play a freer jamming piece led by electric guitar, more aggressive than anything on their previous album. There are two other places in which they really pull out all stops: halfway through part 2 of "Afrodite," the band breaks into a piece that seems to have been modeled on the last part of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"; and on the final track, a menacing bass line with aggressive strings (the analogy that comes to my mind is the Kronos Quartet playing "Purple Haze") leads to an anarchic crescendo. While this album really has only three gears (atmospheric, upbeat and aggressive), they do the first two so well and they are arranged with such care that the whole album flows beautifully and the overall result is very satisfying. It also helps that the band has the good sense to stop before the fifty-minute mark, an act of self-restraint that I wish more bands would adhere to. Once again, the quality of the songwriting is very good, and remarkably Uzva sound even tighter as a unit. On their first three albums, I feel Uzva have bettered themselves each time, but Niittoaika is a bigger step up from its predecessor than Uoma is from Niittoaika. You can start with this or Uoma... but I like the cover art better here. review by Conrad Leviston — 5-3-07 —

b r a n d o n

It's a funny thing, when a reviewer gets exactly what he asks for. In my review of Uzva's debut album, Tammikuinen Tammela, I mentioned that I was hoping the band would break out into some monster jams or something, instead of sticking with their mostly acoustic, airy, pastoral style. When I heard about this sophomore effort, I was excited, because I really like Tammikuinen Tammela (and it's grown on me a lot since my already positive review), but I wasn't really expecting anything greatly different from it. And while Niittoaika isn't exactly a massive departure, it's definitely noticeably different in many ways. For Uzva neophytes, this Finnish group plays an upbeat, folky kind of music that might be called chamber-rock on this album (though on the debut it was too guitar-dominated to be called such, I think). It's generally very spacious, the furthest thing from oppressive or dark, with percussion that's often bouncy and bass lines that often swing. The debut was a greatly enjoyable, but not particularly challenging, piece of work - perfect for relaxing. It's fairly evident from the start that Niittoaika, on the other hand, is a little deeper and more difficult. It's still chock-full of wonderful, lyrical melodies, and it's certainly not anywhere close to RIO, but it's a little less immediately accessible. Niittoaika consists of three compositions. There are parts of all three that aren't much different from the material on the debut — upbeat and accessible, with peppy rhythms and melodies carried on strings and winds over a rhythmic acoustic guitar part. However, "Drontti" and the closing part of "Soft Machine" are both far more intense and, well, rocking than anything on Tammikuinen Tammela. There's even some heavily distorted electric guitar and threatening cello bowing, and much of "Drontti" reminds me of some of Isildurs Bane's more strident rock-oriented work, especially its big bang of an ending. So I got my wish: on this album, Uzva keeps a lot of the major-key, upbeat acoustic work that made Tammikuinen Tammela a joy to listen to, but mixed in some darker, heavier, more intense moments as well. I'd say I enjoy both albums about equally, but they cater to fairly different moods, although either way "Drontti" is definitely the band's crowning achievement thus far. In any case, fans of the debut won't want to miss out, nor will fans of this style of mostly acoustic chamber-rock in general. review by Brandon Wu — 1-22-03 —