Mika Keränen Reviews "Waiting Around"

The 7" 45 RPM EP will arrive in the stores on August 16. Yesterday, the famed author Mika Keränen became the first person outside of the immediate "production circle" to hear the vinyl, and he was kind enough to post a track-by-track review on his Facebook page. With his permission, we reproduce it here: 



Andres Roots EP 2019
Review by Mika Keränen

1. Waiting Around
There is somebody sitting in the corner of a bar and playing guitar. You don't hear it when you have a CD. When you have the vinyl, you hear it and you feel it. This is why I like vinyl. It is next to LIVE gigs.

This "intro" song sounds a bit lazy and easy - it is a true "intro", which is not a bad thing. I had higher hopes, but it's okay. I guess if I'd be a newcomer in my hometown and heard this in any of the bars, I would pop in to see who is playing!

2. One Good Song
One very good song. A perfect slide. Rolling like ketchup on your collar after a midnight at a truck stop. Smells like a muddy river and shitty red vine - and long, long shadows in some forgotten garden. This is, thank God, a longer song. Something happens in the middle of the song. Sudden tingle-tangle slides, Andres Roots' trademark. I get a feeling like skipping rope with my friends. I might even dance.

The man with a guitar is still alone in this song. No drums, not even a drum machine. Nor a singer. A beautiful melody, just for intruding with slippery slides.

3. Birdsong Thing
The songwriter himself said he heard a bird singing in his garden one morning and wrote the song. Well, this doesn't sound like a bird to me. I hear Hawaiian wind, and drunken butterflies whispering: howdy young man, can you buy me a drink?

4. In the Dark
I have heard this before, a feeling I get quite often when listening to Roots. A bit goofy, joyful slide guitar playing. Too short. How come they make 2-minute songs? I want an extended version.