Release date: 9th February 2018
We are big fans of Paara here at Soundscape, so we were very excited to hear about the release of their second album, Riitti. Once again taking the ‘quality over quantity’ approach, featuring just four tracks, the album is nevertheless a well-rounded and substantial listen, with each track bringing something new to the table.
One of the best things about Paara is how consistently good they are. It doesn’t matter if I’m watching them on a stage or listening to a studio performance, it’s always of a remarkably high quality and it’s really rewarding to witness and Riitti is no exception to this. It follows on well from their previous album Yön olevainen puoli, and builds on the stronger points of it, resulting in a decidedly impressive listen. With the shortest of the four tracks clocking in at just under seven minutes, the songs are all pretty hefty listens, yet they don’t feel drawn out – they seem to last for exactly the right amount of time, without dragging at all.
Using a great blend of in-your-face aggression and delectably gentle melodies, the two approaches complement each other well, and there’s so many melodies that will get stuck in your head that you’ll soon find yourself humming along to them for days after listening to the album – the opening melody is a particularly good example of this, with its simplicity working well, and the clean vocals in later track Suon sydäan are something to behold, especially with the following wall of sound juxtaposing awesomely against them!
Paara have really stepped things up with Riitti. If you liked their previous album, then you’ll absolutely love this one.
9/10
