National Album Day - Celebrating Women in Music
Today is National Album Day and the UK is celebrating Women in Music. Ville Saarni picked nine talented female artists and bands with women that you should check out.
Viitasen Piia
Country: Finland
'Viitasen Piia' is a Finnish indie folk-rock band lead by the singer 'Piia Viitanen'. She started to make music with a simple acoustic guitar already more than 10 years ago while working in Nepal. The melancholic and time to time even dark atmosphere have glimpses of hope here and there. After releasing 4 full-length albums the band has grown its audience. The Finnish audience loves her lyrics and the international audience can enjoy the mystical Nordic vibe listening to her beautiful voice and great band arrangements.
Three favorite songs:
Rukous rauhasta
Viimeinen valo jota puhutaan
Iho
Josin
Country: Germany/Korea
I've been a huge fan of 'Josin' since her first EP 'Epilogue' and her debut album 'In The Blank Space' which was probably the best album released in 2018. She has an amazing voice and a way to use it. The melancholic and experimental electro-pop songs are full of emotion. There is certain darkness in her music which is surrounded by beautiful elements making the listener go through different feelings. The combination of electronic production to organic piano and string arrangements is always perfect. I still have not found any faults in her music. Hopeful to still get a new release by her this year!
Three favorite songs:
The Darkness
Once Apart
Healing
Priya Ragu
Country: Switzerland/Sri Lanka
Priya Ragu is a rather new artist in the music scene making modern R&B spiced up with distant neo-soul and hip hop vibes. She has great flow with the vocals making her music very interesting and dynamic while combining Western and South Asian music styles together. Previously she has released few singles and this year she released a brilliant mixtape 'damnshestamil'.
Three favorite songs:
Good Love 2.0
Lighthouse
Chicken Lemon Rice
Lxandra
Country: Finland
Young Finnish artist who released her debut album this year. Her pop music contains vintage/retro feelings combined with some electronic productions. But even with some electronic production and her young age many of her songs have some ethereal and timeless old soul. It is a bit old school to write like this since there is so much great music coming from Finland these days, but 'Lxandra' has really international sound in her music and I wish that also the bigger international audience would find her!
Three favorite songs:
March
Glide
Rabbit
Malla
Country: Finland
Another Finnish artist releasing her debut album this year with this name. Previously 'Malla' has been known as an actress from multiple Finnish movies. She has also made music earlier with a couple of different names. This time she is making rather cool and trendy house and dance music with delicate vocals. Even though being trendy, her music also resemblances some soundscapes from early 2000's house music. The overall production is great and her delicate voice works very well with the slightly minimalistic beats.
Three favorite songs:
Miksi oottaisin
Tilaa
Irti
ANAVITÓRIA
Country: Brazil
Anavitória is a Brazilian musical pop duo composed of Ana Clara Caetano Costa and Vitória Fernandes Falcão. They released their first EP in 2015 and they have already released four full-length albums. Even though they have been very productive they have not suffered from a lack of quality and their latest album 'COR' is a perfect example of that being their strongest release. The Portuguese and the duo's voices make everything sound very smooth and pleasant.
Three favorite songs:
Te amar é massa demais
Lisboa
Pra você guardei o amor
Joy Crookes
Country: UK/Bangladesh/Ireland
Joy Crookes is a British-Irish-Bangladeshi singer-songwriter making fresh and modern soulful R&B tunes. Previously she has released a few EPs, multiple singles, and yesterday her debut album 'Skin' was released (review coming up a bit later 😉). The arrangements are very pleasant and catchy but what really stands out is her voice! You just gotta love it!
Three favorite songs:
Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Yah / Elements - Medley
Don't Let Me Down
Oathbreaker
Country: Belgium
The band's latest album 'Rheia' from 2016 is one of the best screamo/hardcore albums of all time. Their emotive sound and massive arrangements combined to the female vocals by 'Caro Tanghe' is just something out of this world. I really wish to hear more from them after many years.
Three favorite songs:
Ease Me
Being Able To Feel Nothing
Second Son of R.
Rosa Anschütz
Country: Germany/Austria
She is a relatively new artist who released her debut album 'Votive' last year, being one of the best albums of the year. The soundscape is amazing being cold-blooded, same time beautiful but ruthless and from time to time even scary. 'Anschütz's ambient and industrial music feels like watching a movie without a picture. Really looking forward to what she is boiling for the future.
Three favorite songs:
Soft Resource
Diopter
Rausch der Sinne
