Olympic Games is the debut album of Siinai, a Finnish band hailing from Helsinki. Although it would have been very timely if this album had been released in 2012 – an Olympic year – actually, this album has been out since September last year (on Splendour).

If you’ve not heard Olympic Games yet, now is as good a time as ever to discover it for yourself.  The record is more of a concept album, with all the songs are linked to the Olympics in some way – with tracks such as ‘ Munich 1972’, ‘Finish Line’ – and it was nominated for the Nordic Music Prize 2011.

A mixture of hypnotic anthems and ambient shoegaze, the tracks are epic, mostly instrumental, with long and soaring keyboards – referred to elsewhere as ‘droning synth-rock’ – although that doesn’t quite grasp the melodic nature of the tracks for me. When listening to the tracks, ‘Marathon’ in particular, I’m reminded of NYC-band Secret Machines as they were 5 years ago, with pounding drums and cymbals building to a synth-induced crescendo. If this is krautrock (as the band pertain), then maybe this genre has just won over a new fan. At least, Siinai has.

For the moment, Siinai has no plans to tour this album in NL/BE but its tunes will be heard souring across fields at festivals this summer (including Flow Festival in Helsinki in August).

And, before then, fans may catch members of Siinai on stage in NL/BE playing some slightly different songs with Canadian multi-talented musician, Spencer Krug. Long story short, the band befriended Spencer when he was touring Europe in 2009 and, since then, he has been collaborating with Siinai band members for his new project Moonface  (see the long version of the story here). Now, the new album With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery will be released next month (on Jagaguwar) and throughout May, Siinai will be taking to the stage as Moonface’s backing band on a European tour which calls to both Utrecht and Kortrijk.

Moonface with Siinai tour dates:

Sat 26 May: Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who May Day Festival
Sun 27 May: Kortrijk, BE @ Sinxen Festival

Siinai with Spencer Krug, aka Moonface (he’s the one somehow floating in the centre)