Husky Rescue

By Reid Davis  |  June 1, 2005 | 12:00am
Music Features Husky Rescue

One of its catchiest songs might be called “Summertime Cowboy,” but Finnish band Husky Rescue had never been out West—or even to the U.S.—before coming to Austin for SXSW. So the band—four lanky men and one model-gorgeous blonde—looked (and probably felt) out of place amidst the vintage signs, rusting gas pumps and giant, kitschy ornamental chickens at their Paste photo shoot. The frequent snapping of bassist/bandleader Marko Nyberg’s digital camera only accented the strangeness of the scene.

“I have all these kinds of images in my head,” admits vocalist/keyboardist (and aforementioned blonde beauty) Reeta-Leena Korhola. “Like in Texas you just sit by the fireplace; somebody’s playing the guitar. And we would be [roasting] some marshmallows …”

Instead of ranches, marshmallow roasts and ten-gallon Stetsons, the band was greeted by hotels, smoky clubs, cab rides and back-to-back interviews. For Nyberg—a film connoisseur, TV sound designer and band mastermind—it was frustrating to not be able to spend his four days in the U.S. exploring what he and his bandmates repeatedly called “the real deal.”

But Nyberg has created his own “real deal” on record, imbuing synth-based, atmospheric pop reminiscent of Air, Zero 7 and Beth Orton with organic textures and not a trace of sterility. Husky Rescue’s debut, Country Falls, is where the laptop meets the lap steel, mixing the wintry coolness of electronic textures with organic heat. It’s moody, alluring and awfully hard to resist.

“Stanley Kubrick has said that he normally doesn’t know what he wants to be in his movie, but he certainly knows what he doesn’t want to be there,” Nyberg says. “And I didn’t want really digital kinds of synth songs. … I tried to get really close to the kind of sound I would sample from vinyl.”

The lap steel and slide guitar bring a human element to Husky Rescue’s loops and sequences, allowing Nyberg to tip his hat to creative hero David Lynch. “The lap steel is a really nice instrument because it’s close to a human voice,” Nyberg says. “When you add some effects it gets a bit spooky.”

The humanity of Country Falls was partially a reaction to living in Helsinki, where snow remains on the ground half the year. “We live in a dark and very cold environment,” Korhola notes. “And that’s the reason we want to get the warmth [from] music, movies, social life and that kind of thing.”

Country Falls may be credited to the band, but it’s the product of Nyberg’s vision. He used more than 20 friends in the studio, including Korhola on vocals. It was only when assembling a touring lineup that Husky Rescue became a band.

“It’s been interesting how this thing has been morphing and transforming,” Nyberg says, furrowing his brow. “It’s more like Iron Maiden for me—when you think ‘Iron Maiden’ you don’t say ‘project.’ It’s a band.”

Whether “band” or “project,” Country Falls is a cohesive effort. “I didn’t want to put together some kind of compilation record,” Nyberg acknowledges. “It was meant to be an album in the original old-school way.”

Now that Husky Rescue has gelled, Nyberg eagerly anticipates recording again with the core group who capably render his songs onstage. Live, some songs—like “Rainbow Flows” with Miika Colliander’s drunken slide guitar—actually pack a punch that’s missing on the album.

The live show is such a draw that it put Minty Fresh label head Jim Powers on a flight from Chicago to Helsinki in January to catch a performance after he’d been floored by the then Europe-only CD. Powers, responsible for launching Cowboy Junkies and The Cardigans, among others, says such spur-of-the-moment trips are rare, to say the least.

“The music was so compelling,” he says, “I really had no choice.”

Three months later, five Finns were making a 30-hour return journey to the U.S. at Powers’ behest. It was more work than they expected, but it wasn’t completely without peeks into “the real deal.” Even with the band’s two vegetarians, it nonetheless savored a visit to Austin’s legendary Salt Lick for barbecue.

“I was posing with two real cowboys,” Korhola recounts, grinning.

 
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