PMMP - Discography reviews
Chances are, you've not heard about PMMP. That's fine - they're a Finnish act operating solely within their domestic borders. In their home country PMMP were one of the defining acts of the first decade of the 2000s, and their reunion concerts the other year were one of the biggest pop culture events of the country. Outside Finland, they may as well be obscure nobodies. One of the many, many reasons why I love writing about music is the chance to tell the world about these acts from my corner of the earth, and with PMMP specifically I've recently finished reviewing their album discography (apart from their children's album, which is a little outside my domain to talk about earnestly).
All the reviews can be found here.
Going through the discography from start to finish was a fantastic chance to refresh just how powerful PMMP were. Paula Vesala and Mira Luoti are incredible frontwomen and band leaders, as vocalists, lyricists and performers. In studio, the invisible third member Jori Sjöroos really showcased just what a brilliant knack for melody and dynamic arrangement he has; live, the three-piece band that Vesala and Luoti had behind them from the very early days grew from a bundle of chaotic, messy energy into fiercely energetic performers and interpreters. Alongside the album run, I also took the opportunity to watch the documentary Ei enää ikinä ("Never Anymore Ever") which was released last year, alongside the reunion tour; it's not only a great look into the group's history and the complex feelings behind the reunion (the band called it a day at the peak of their powers amicably, but taking that nostalgic trip back in time for the reunion was still a complicated decision), but also a brutal snapshot of just how cruel the early-mid 2000s media was against women. There's some absolutely bewildering comments from TV hosts as part of standard daytime programming and it's mental that it was considered normal back then - I'm glad to hear some of the people who feature in the archival clips in the documentary ended up making public statements expressing their regret and retrospective understanding of just how cruel it all was.
PMMP only ever recorded five albums, plus the aforementioned children's album and a collection of re-recorded choice cuts from across the back catalogue as part of their final farewell year's proceedings. It's that set of re-recordings - 2013's Matkalaulu - which was the big surprise of this entire project. The rest of the albums, I knew where I stand pretty firmly; but whilst Matkalaulu had creeped up in my good books along the years, I don't think I had realised just how incredible it is until now. On RateYourMusic I still had it down as a 7/10 as a rating from way back when - giving it the near-perfect 9/10 as part of this binge felt only right, given how immensely powerful it is at its best.
So if you're curious, you can follow the link at the start of this post. In the meantime, here's five videos of songs I love from across their career.
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