As I’ve been listening to a lot of jam bands lately, I thought that it’d only be appropriate to introduce one of my favourite Finnish representatives of the scene. Hidria Spacefolk was founded in 1999 by jam-happy members of a Finnish hippie community and HDRSF-1 was their debut release, first as a mini-LP in 2001 and later on CD in 2006. A fully instrumental band, they define themselves as an astrobeat band, but with more detail, I’d describe Hidria as a disciple of Ozric Tentacles who mixes in generous helpings of Pink Floyd (especially in the mellow moments) and some Jimi Hendrix when things turn up a few notches.

Amos Ame opens the record with some hypnotic, circling melodies churned by the guitar and bass as keyboards and later on flute take over the soloing duties. While prog-fans like me might be disappointed that it’s not full-on flute ownage á la Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, the more restrained lines are very catchy throughout. Talking about restrained, the drum beat is interesting as it holds the backbone together with a similar pattern and fills, but said patterns and fills are constantly bordering on a virtuosic feeling that the drummer wants to go all Keith Moon on his kit, but keeps playing for the song instead of flash. A short medieval guitar-twiddle and some reggae-interludes bring some good breaks to the hypnosis.

Kafar-I, my favourite on the record, brings in the aforementioned spirit of Hendrix into the mix with some impressive guitar lines and a funky, groovy rock vibe especially reminiscent of Jimi’s Band Of Gypsys-period. Sindran Rastafan makes you anticipate something reggae/ska-based with the first chords, but soon starts to build a delay-drenched spacey jam that really brings out the Tentacles in Hidria. Some heavier guitar work makes the mood darker in the middle as the melodies bring in a decidedly eastern flavour and resume to take the tune further out into the universe.

Gnomen is an intro-like piece, working primarily with subtly tribal hand percussions, jewharp and slightly distorted, futuristic keyboards. It leads into the album-closing Marastronaut, a somewhat low-key space jam with adequately rocking parts, which is a bit of an odd choice to end the album as it doesn’t hold up to the greatness of say, Kafar or Sindran.

While not metallic by any stretch of the imagination, Hidria Spacefolk is the perfect music for rock fans to meditate, dance (hey, it could happen) or gaze at the vast reaches of the sky to. For a debut release within two years of the band’s formation, HDRSF-1 is some good, good stuff. Check out the jukebox and live downloads on the band’s website for a quick fix.