At the end of last year we hinted in our Ones To Watch list that this could be the year of the synth pop boys. At the moment this suggestion remains just that, with the tongue-in-cheek new seriousness and sharp suits of our tip Hurts travelling the country on the NME Radar Tour (reviewed here) promoting new single Better Than Love. The other tip in our list of ten - Mirrors - have signed a deal with Skint records and toured with Delphic but have yet to set the world on fire. Further vintage keyboard promise has come from DEKADE, Active Child and Chateau Marmont, and now we’re adding another to this roll call of icy analogue bubble bath boys - Villa Nah.
Juho Paalosmaa and Tomi Hyyppa are Villa Nah. They come from Finland, where Juho writes and sings whilst Tomi creates the bands retro-cool minimalist dance pop. They describe their sound as being “Music about dreams and time,” and this week have released their debut single in the UK though the Moshi Moshi singles club - Running On. The Villa Nah sound is reminiscent of early OMD, Depeche Mode and Yazoo - it’s sparse classic synth pop full of crystal beats, calm electronics and earnestly melancholic vocals.
Over the last few days Villa Nah have been playing a few shows in the UK and later this year are playing the Flow Festival in Helsinki and Bestival in the UK. Here's Villa Nah performing Running On for a TV show in Finland.
1 comment:
Hurts seem to be very strong now and will surely be one of handful of bands that every year manage to be the darlings of the summer festival scene. With the amount of TV exposure this now generates that should see them push through to selling out bigger venues by autumn.
I wouldn't however write off Mirrors just yet. Seeing them for the second time at Great Escape they have great tunes and a great image. They have only released a couple of songs to date and form what I could see have at least another couple that are as good. With Skint behind them and the album on the way I'd watch out for these guys at the back end of the year.
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