Fans of American folk will find much to enjoy with Mikko Joensuu's debut album Amen I. It taps into the American folk music tradition, and it is all about deep and healing songs which at times give the listener an impression of spending time in quiet, intimate surroundings with people like Townes Van Zandt, Lee Hazlewood, Josh T. Pearson or Leonard Cohen...

Amen I contains 8 songs (44 min, 23 sec) and harks back to '70s American folk music. Arrangements are raw but beautiful - mostly just the piano and guitar accompany Mikko’s voice, with pedal steel guitars and soothing string sections paying a visit every now and then.

This is the first part of a trilogy, with part II due to land at the end of this year (2016) and part III being released in spring 2017.

Joensuu explains that this first part is "perhaps the most fragile. It’s an effort to find balance between great sadness and beauty, and to understand the very strange state when one’s mind is close to collapse and yet at the same time more alive than ever."

For some it may sound a little preachy, for others a great deal of comfort will come out of listening to this. While it wasn't an album I was overly struck on, I do recognise its finer points and why some will fall in love with this intimate album.

6

Nick Smithson