Husky Rescue - Ship Of Light (2015)

The third outing from this Helsinki-based crew is an impressionistic voyage through icy Nordic soundscapes and atmospheric pop, with captain and head dream weaver Marko Nyberg at the tiller, deftly navigating his band through little-charted interstices of sound -- touching on orchestral grandeur, acoustic folk, hazy synth-draped ambience, and surprisingly robust rock -- and of emotion -- evoking both wistful sweetness and dark, melancholic gloom without fully succumbing to either. If that description makes the album sound like so much amorphous sonic wallpaper, well, it does make for perfectly lovely background music, but it's also got a bit more character than many similarly inclined operations. Once again, Reeta Vestman (née Korhola)'s wispy vocals -- texturally slight, even babyish (and certainly far from husky), but striking nonetheless -- provide a crucial focal point, whether menacingly whispered (as on "When Time Was on Their Side"), layered over themselves (as on the curious, sing-song quasi-lullaby "Beautiful My Monster"), paired with Nyberg's or left to their lonesome plaintive purity. But her voice is only one on an album full of distinctive sounds -- symphonic and synthesized, ordinary and otherworldly -- that are regularly blended in fluid and intriguing ways. Ambient-folk interlude "Grey Pastures, Still Waters," for instance, intersperses woodland animal noises and alien spaceship bleeps over a bed of placid, space age lounge; shape-shifting album standout "Wolf Trap Motel" spends over half of its length as a gentle, electric piano-led instrumental before a fleeting, glorious French horn note ushers in Vestman's vocal, an enchanting transformation even if she does little more than list the names of the days. Across the spectrum from these dreamy offerings are the livelier and somewhat more commonplace likes of "Fast Lane" and "We Shall Burn Bright," driving rock tracks which call the Arcade Fire to mind in their anthemic urgency, bringing loud guitars and drums to the forefront without lacking for the sonic inventiveness present throughout the album. They aren't bad songs, but their energy feels somewhat out of place here, coming off in this context as cluttered and pedestrian, and highlighting the challenges of combining expansive and adventurous soundscaping with direct, conventionally minded songwriting. There is, though, at least one entirely successful marriage of melody and moodiness: "Sound of Love," a simple, circular tune with a taut, danceable beat that pairs shadowy oddness and an instantly ear-catching hook, and forms a welcome portal -- or should that be porthole? -- into Ship of Light's lush, luminous leisure cruise.

Tracklist:
01. Husky Rescue - First Call (0:57)
02. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (4:14)
03. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (4:43)
04. Husky Rescue - Wolf Trap Motel (6:03)
05. Husky Rescue - Man of Stone (5:04)
06. Husky Rescue - When Time Was on Their Side (3:58)
07. Husky Rescue - Grey Pastures, Still Waters (3:48)
08. Husky Rescue - We Shall Burn Bright (5:03)
09. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (4:38)
10. Husky Rescue - Beautiful My Monster (4:18)
11. Husky Rescue - Snowfall (Lake Bodom Recordings) (6:56)
12. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (Lake Bodom Recordings) (2:54)
13. Husky Rescue - Man of Stone (Lake Bodom Recordings) (6:15)
14. Husky Rescue - When Time Was on Their Side (Live in Hotel Arthur) (4:12)
15. Husky Rescue - We Shall Burn Bright (Live in Hotel Arthur) (5:26)
16. Husky Rescue - Beautiful My Monster (Live in Hotel Arthur) (5:40)
17. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (Live at the Willmington Arms) (4:42)
18. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (The Twelves Remix) (3:49)
19. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (The Twelves Full Length Remix) (5:29)
20. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (The Twelves Instrumental Remix) (5:29)
21. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (Implosion Quartet Remix) (3:55)
22. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Warrior One Remix) (4:45)
23. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Halogen Remix) (4:01)
24. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Kinema Remix) (4:09)
25. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Production Unit Remix) (7:09)
26. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Dave Graham Remix) (4:30)
27. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (2 Bit Thugs Remix) (5:12)
28. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (Son of Kick Remix) (5:00)
29. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (Black Grass Refix) (4:17)
30. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (Secuem Remix) (5:05)
31. Husky Rescue - We Shall Burn Bright (Munk 777 Remix) (6:24)
32. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Doosloo's Subtle Sunday Rework) (4:56)
33. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (Demu Remix) (4:56)
34. Husky Rescue - We Shall Burn Bright (Iambic Remix) (4:03)
35. Husky Rescue - First Call (Instrumental) (0:55)
36. Husky Rescue - Sound of Love (Instrumental) (5:09)
37. Husky Rescue - Fast Lane (Instrumental) (5:05)
38. Husky Rescue - Wolf Trap Motel (Instrumental) (6:03)
39. Husky Rescue - Man of Stone (Instrumental) (5:08)
40. Husky Rescue - When Time Was on Their Side (Instrumental) (3:58)
41. Husky Rescue - Grey Pastures Still Waters (Instrumental) (3:47)
42. Husky Rescue - We Shall Burn Bright (Instrumental) (5:01)
43. Husky Rescue - They Are Coming (Instrumental) (4:35)
44. Husky Rescue - Beautiful My Monster (Instrumental) (5:37)