Song(s) of the Day # 2,988 Lone Deer Larado

 

The One Chord To Another site, listed to the right hand side of the page is a remarkable thing. I always thought I listened and posted a lot myself doing so on a daily basis, but the Finnish author of this one puts me in the shade. With lengthy playlists and posts of all the things he's listening to, that makes you wonder how many hours he has in his day in comparison with how many you have in yours. Truly an ongoing labour of love.

C&W seems to be the primary focus of his personal musical obsessions but he also finds time for Folk, Singer Songwriters, alternative pop music, Soul and more. The blog is an endless source of fascination and inspiration for me.

One of the more intriguing bonuses of One Chord is the way in which it shines a light on what's going on the Finnish music scene. There's clearly a lot going on. I've picked a few of his selections myself over the years and posted about them here.

One of the most interesting examples of these in recent years has been the Finnish stoner band New Silver Girl fronted by Olli Happonen. They put out a fascinating eponymous debut album in 2018 which came to my notice late in the year and made my list of favourite albums of that year.

As I said in my review at the time; 'This is mythic stuff. New Silver Girl is an album first and foremost that's obviously rooted in the Seventies. Think Neil Young & Crazy Horse, America, Waters and Gilmour era Floyd, Hawkwind Grateful Dead, Steppenwolf, New Riders of the Purple Sage. Long haired stoners. Heading out on the highway'.

But Happonen has at least a second string to his bow as evidenced by the latest record he's been associated with as highlighted to me by One Chord To Another. It's Lone Deer Larado, where he teams up with Paola Suhonen to produce a set of ethereal and wistful duets that are both reminiscent of the Western Frontier and the Nordic wastes.It comes across as an OST for a slightly unsettling, erotic European Arthouse Movie with slightly intense cowboys in it. 

This latest collection Lone Deer Larado Volume II is as good a point to start as any. Suhonen tends to take centre stage vocally and Happonen takes care of the musical arrangements. It's all rather lovely frankly.