If you have been following the Nordic indie scene for a while, you may be familiar with Helsinki-based singer/songwriter Antti Reikko under the moniker koriakittenriot. He’s a master of guitar pop with an uncanny ability to turn a beautiful song into something that will make you smile and want to listen to it again, which is what happened to me when I first heard his debut album, Lights Out.
It’s a cheerful, instrument-stuffed kind of indie-pop that has been around for a while but isn’t getting the radio play it deserves. Reikko’s influences include Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Nick Drake, Bright Eyes and Damien Rice.
He also likes to play acoustic guitar, piano, mandolin and glockenspiel. On his debut LP, Reikko recorded everything himself on a shoe-string budget. He even had a friend help him mix the final tracks.
KKR’s latest album, Rich Men Poor Men Good Men, is built upon Reikko’s experiences and is their most honest and developed release yet. Its themes of love, hope and loss are expressed with a gentle, melodic sensitivity that at times sounds like a soundtrack for an indie film.
This record is a charming and thoughtful ode to humanity and how we can find some joy in the midst of the chaos that is our world today. The theme of hope reminds us all that ‘hope lies just around the corner’, and with this in mind, we are encouraged to seek it out and be optimistic about our own place in the universe.