MUSIC REVIEW: Buko Shane - “Pandemic Blues”
While I’m technically on an overall hiatus from music journalism right now, there are a few exceptions that I’m willing to make for artists that I find interesting. Among these is Buko Shane, led by Heikki Hänninen, who seems to be a big fan of the same sort of classic American rock, country, and folk music for which I also have a nostalgic fondness. Having never expected to find such a genre done with genuine quality in Finland (let’s face it, most European bands who toy with that genre do so without really understanding it or its culture or where it came from), I was very impressed with the band when I discovered them live and have since enjoyed one of their singer’s solo performances as well. Thus, when “Pandemic Blues” was announced for release on August 1st, 2024, I felt quite compelled to give it a spin and see how it compares to what I’ve heard from them live.
In case you’re new here, I often like to use this first paragraph to give a general personal history on the artist, so if you’d like to compare your favorites to mine to see how comparable our tastes are, this next paragraph is for you! After all, music is subjective! So, with that in mind, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you’re not interested in my personal history with Buko Shane’s music.
I discovered Buko Shane in 2023 during Helsinki Psych Fest’s Love Potion Psych Fest. That year was a particularly eclectic collection of acts and Buko Shane had stood out to me for having a really classic country music meets old classic rock sound, of the Allman Brothers or Marshall Tucker Band persuasion. While the live performance was even better than the album, I nevertheless appreciate artists who genuinely seem to understand the style and soul of a genre, as opposed to just appropriating the sound. I will admit that when I heard they were working on an album, I was hoping for something considerably more upbeat than a slow ‘n’ soft acoustic album, but that didn’t mean the latter wasn’t going to be good, so I had to give it a few spins anyways.
“Another Sunday Morning” starts the album off on a gentle note, focusing on acoustic guitars and vocals, with a mellow atmosphere about having a soft and slow start to a Sunday, with wisps of melancholic loneliness. There’s a hint of steel guitar that adds some country flair to “Long Winter,” and I appreciate the fusion of North American folk music with Finnish culture—perhaps coming from Canada, this feels more organic than it might to an American, but we Canuks can relate to those long, cold nights. Heikki sings in a such a way that strongly evokes that twang you could hear in the voice of the late Shane MacGowan. Now, as I write this, it occurs to me that the reason I know Shane’s name at all was because, at that aforementioned solo show where I saw Heikki performing, he was doing a fair number of awesome The Pogues covers and mentioning how he was a big fan of Shane’s, so in hindsight, I’m thinking that Heikki pulled off exactly what he was going for in his vocal stylings.
The steel guitar takes a backseat in “I Should Let You Go,” which is another gentle track, pensive and reflective. A nice peaceful, melodic guitar line drives “Just Another Band,” which returns to a bit of the melancholy, but come to think of it, wasn’t country music generally pretty thematically sad? Considering this album is called “Pandemic Blues,” it’s no wonder that there’s an inherent loneliness and sadness to the mood. This song also stands out for the inclusion of some strings.
The energy picks up a little when the stompin’ “See that My Grave Is Kept Clean” starts, including some whispery vocals that invoke a vague memory of some of Mark Knopfler’s solo material. It also has a bit of a fun jam session part, not quite a solo—definitely an album highlight for me. The pace slows back down for “For Nick,” which is an instrumental track with a lot of personality, exploring a lot of really interesting guitar sounds in its 3:08 runtime; this happens to have been another personal favorite from the album.
“My Old Companion” doesn’t quite pick up the pace but does bump up the life a bit. Once again, you have to appreciate Heikki’s voice… it’s rare to get that deep, bluesy, country sound in Finland, so I have perhaps a bit of a special appreciation for it, having grown up with that music. There’s some really neat guitar parts too, dancing around a flamenco style at times, with some maracas and other percussive spices here and there.
Another stand-out track is “The Ride,” which has some deep, not quite Jim Morrison-y feels to it, while also featuring some brass instruments and large amounts of dramatic flare, which got me thinking… how often do I feel like I experience this much drama in such a slow song? I should probably listen to more jazz, at very least. I digress, this is a chaotic and very interesting song, as what sounds like a saxophone melody underlies cacophonous drumming and echoey and distorted vocal lines throughout the last few minutes.
Heikki’s vocals are the driving force behind “Static Laziness,” which returns the ambience back to a peaceful space, with only very light instrumental accompaniment, at least until the saxophone takes over for the vocals. I do love a good soft sax melody, so bravo! Some very fiddly guitar work makes “California (In My Dreams Again)” come to life and brings a bit of peppy, positive spirit towards the end of the album. This one has a bit of nostalgia for the old days, perhaps even the ‘60s, the way you imagine summer life in California back then. “Pandemic Blues” then leaves the listener with its final track, “Son My Sun,” which has almost religious vibes, like an old song you’d hear at church on Sundays back in the day. The song evolves in an interesting way, as it becomes once again softly chaotic, as the main melody is underlined by a variety of different effects and sounds before the vocals return.
On the whole, this is a largely very peaceful album that shifts between slight melancholy and sweet hopefulness, with a few upbeat moments thrown in there, making sure it doesn’t lose your attention. I do wonder what sort of a reaction Finnish audiences have to this sort of music—the style has never been particularly common, in my experience, but old American country/blues was a very melodramatically tragic genre, so the blend of the sound with that bit of Finnish melancholy actually works really nicely for Finns, though I would say that this album wouldn’t be out of place on a Nashville release either.
Tracklist
Another Sunday Morning
Long Winter
I Should Let You Go
Just Another Band
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
For Nick
My Old Companion
The Ride
Static Laziness
California (In My Dreams Again)
Son My Sun
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