Vocal folk hop it is

Tuuletar (“Goddess of the Wind”) is a quite recent addition to the high life of Finnish a cappella groups that has already been successful in international vocal group competitions. The genre headline they use is “vocal folk hop”, which is actually quite suitable for their music. They are clearly inspired by Finnish folk music and enjoy especially its beautiful, old language and some razor-like voice production. But the result and overall sound is definitively 2016, a well-produced product which works in any mainstream context.

The four singing ladies all deliver high quality, with a taste of both soul divas and Nordic part-singing. They use a wide range of colours with some impressive beatboxing added. The impressionistic texts work well even for non-Finnish speakers. The general feeling of the songs is quite clear anyway, ranging from self-confident groove (“Ei leijuta”) to sincere ballad (“Soua”).

A promising start for an ambitious ensemble.