Ever thought what it’d be like if music were a fist? And how much of its pummelling you’d be able to take if it were? Nor have I. But one thing’s for sure – if the fist crashed into my face with melodies like these, it’d be hard to say “NO”…

To record its fourth album, A New Bohemia, Lapko ripped itself away from the everyday to focus on the buzz of modern madness rumbling within. Malja (guitar & vocals), Nordberg (Bass) and Heikkonen (drums) went to Woodstock, New York, to record at The Clubhouse with producer D. James Goodwin, who has also worked with eg. The Bravery, Norah Jones and Stiffed. The resulting album reveals the band more bare than ever before.

“A new bohemia” is like many of the best things — you can’t explain it, but you understand it instinctively. It captures what Lapko found as they wondered what to make of it all, when you don’t really care, don’t really worry, yet feel new pressures interfering with your freedom. It is torn between naivety and maturity, caring and not giving a shit, farting and meeting the parents, the weight of the world and the unbearable lightness of being, budget airlines and designer shoes…

These intense Princes of Melancholy raised many eyebrows as they wandered through the Woodstock wilderness barefoot on breaks from recording; who were these northern men and what did they hide under their vests — a pretty kitten, loaded gun, book of poetry or baby’s skull?

Musically the clash of the outer and inner world come together as melodies so grand and irresistible that they just might restore faith. They are coupled with rhythmic assaults so relentless concrete jungles will quake. Could this music even heal the emotionally crippled? Of course not! But this album may teach you to cry again. Just listen to the melodies on Summer Nights — sweet! — the stink bomb rhythms on King & Queens — savage! —and the razorblade riffs on Horse and Crow —searing! What a combination.

Six years after Lapko’s debut album The Arms (Jukeboss, 2004) introduced a hungry band known for forceful live shows, the basic set-up remains. The precise drumming fights to break free yet its first priority is always to serve the band, like an older brother looking out for the younger ones. The bass lays down the drive of the music, subtly and surprisingly linking the parts together. And the guitars stretch through the music like a nervous system. And it’s as if an arm was sticking out of the vocalist’s throat holding the band’s singing heart, giving voice to the venom. A vulnerability in Lapko’s aggressive melancholy was there on the debut, it was there on Scandal (Fullsteam, 2006) and it became deeper on Young Desire (Fullsteam, 2007). And it goes deeper still with A New Bohemia (Fullsteam, 2010).

Lapko stands apart from many of its peers because of a dedicated fearlessness. Where others lean on tradition, Lapko want to to come up with something new and lasting. Something with heart, soul & character.

That something is A New Bohemia. A fist of music that grabs the heart, bruises the body and caresses the soul. Sometimes you get the roughest kicks out of things that just can’t be explained.

J.M. / KASINO CREATIVE