Husky Rescue

Just when you feel you could almost catch your death in the frozen wastes of the current music scene, a saviour pads into view. Husky Rescue are here, carrying the revivifying (and intoxicating) liquor of musical invention and pure, untainted melodicism in their capacious sleigh. As clear as icewater, as dazzling as the Aurora Borealis, as jolting as a splash in the face from a Finnish lake; the music of Husky Rescue is more than capable of refreshing even the most jaded palate and warming the cockles of those left cold by lesser talents. Finnish multi-instrumentalist and all-round musical magus Marko Nyberg leads the charge. His delicate, country-folksy yet contemporary music is surely the work of an artist touched by the chilly majesty of his homeland, and much more besides. He speaks of his influences as being 'the magical moment' and mood in movies. David Lynch, Lars von Trier. Wim Wenders, Lukas Moodysson, Russ Meyer, Scandinavian architecture, Erik Satie, the airy lushness of French impressionism and Philip Glass. The sound of Arvo Part, warm and honest country music and a lot of other things in pop culture (such as) graphic design and photography.Unlike many artists who cite such wide-ranging influences, you really can detect them in Nyberg's music. Each song is a self-contained mini-movie aiming for its own unique emotional impact. Take 'New Light Of Tomorrow', a slow burning Floyd-ian epic, a hushed meditation on hope and doubt. Both intimate and immense, this is the stuff of heartbreak, a happy-sad reverie. 'Sweet Little Kitten' is well named. It's warm, delicate and adorable. Around the time of 'Pet Sounds' Brian Wilson declared his ambition to make music which loves the listener back. This is something which Husky Rescue are also clearly capable of - this song curls around the listener in a warm, comforting embrace. As Marko puts it, "I'll try to create music that gives you feeling that somebody's holding you in their arms. And some contrast for that. There always has to be contrast."And there is plenty of contrast in the Husky soundworld. 'Gasoline Girl' begins as a laidback, bluesy daydream before breaking out into an expansive psychedelic landscape while 'Rainbow Flows' begins with a truly awesome cinematic flourish before settling into an understated lo-fi groove, revealing a frivolous, dizzy dimension of Nyberg's sound - a Husky tongue lolling around weather-beaten chops, you might say.When asked to describe his own work, Nyberg's metaphors are unusual but entirely appropriate: David Lynch meets the night-less night in Lapland, he suggests, or perhaps Bambi meets big bad wolf and they become friends. If you can read that and not be intrigued, you are an iceberg, my friend. Following their previous highly acclaimed EPs, 2003's 'Sleep Tight Tiger' and 2004's 'New Light Of Tomorrow' and 'City Lights') Husky Rescue release the single 'Summetime Cowboy' on Catskills Records on 1st November. As if that were not enough to break the ice, a debut album will emerge later October 11th on Catskills CD and beautiful gatefold sleeve Vinyl. We wait with bated - not to mention frosted - breath.