Atmospheric Rock, well not quite my cup of tea. There are some cool bands in the genre but generally I'm not one of those she dumped me and now I weep for my lost love type of guys (OK, I'm not also one of those Woman, be my slave types either, so ladies feel free to drop me an e-mail every now and then!). So I was a bit suspicious when I got this promo. Thankfully Sham Rain turned out to be a cool act.
The band was formed around 2000 and their first EP called Pieces was released in 2002. This released was followed by the full length Empty World Excursion in 2003 and another EP called Shamrain. In 2004 the band got a new deal with Firebox and the first fruit of this deal is Someplace Else. Just for the record let's also mention that the vocalist, Mika Tauriainen, is also the voice of Entwine...
Now don't let this last note fool you. Sham Rain have nothing to do with the sound of Entwine. Sham Rain play this nerve calming atmospheric Rock, at times not even Rock but rather atmospheric music, that has nothing in common with the latest release Entwine release. Beautiful harmonies, a lounge atmosphere, some nicely blended female vocals... definitely not a listening for the entire day BUT a really nice accommodation for the small hours or a frosty Monday morning.
These Finnish dudes really managed to fuse in their music some of their country's distant (almost exotic) coldness. Sadly, the album came in a very hot period here in Athens (hehehe). Sauna, anyone?