Saku Mantere – Divine Apology
Saku Mantere; Various artists
Orchard of Pomegranates (sakumantere.bandcamp.com/album/divine-apology)
So-called universal themes are bridges, not capsules. They serve to connect and relate our lived experiences, not fold them into each other neatly. Divine Apology is a wonderful network of these bridges. Pulling from the written works of artists from various disciplines including Norman Cristofoli, Dylan Thomas and Kalervo Hämäläinen, the sonic poetry of Saku Mantere breathes new meaning into every line.
Lapin Äidin Kehtolaulu turns a lullaby into a fleet-footed waltz in which everyone involved rips their solos with such a vigorous fervor that invokes the mother-child dynamic found in the song’s lyrics racing through eternity. Mantere’s vocals personify care and wistfulness, each syllable its own delectable morsel, vibrato conveying more compassionate feeling for the song’s address with each passing beat. There is a bittersweetness constantly permeating through how harmony interacts with lyric, lines like “the circle of life is closing in” from Mantere’s own Not Fair being more an observation or acceptance than a lament.
On a personal note, I love albums that feel like windows into the room in which they were recorded, and as Adrian Vedady takes an eloquent bass solo while Kate Wyatt paints in the margins with her comping, I feel like I can find physical refuge in the surrounding calm. Divine Apology is a window through and through. It is a window into familiar notions of love, grief, smallness, earnestness and connection. It is a window into how these notions tint Mantere’s world.
