Viimane Suusataja

Estonian duo Puuluup were absolutely one of the highlights of the last Tallinn Music Week I attended in 2019. Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson both sing and play the hiiu kannel or talharpa (an old bowed lyre they’ve revived) in what they call ‘zombie folk.’ Their palindromic name means ‘Wood Loop.’ They use a lot of loops, their instruments are made of wood, and the title of this new album refers to Nordic skiing, so there’s more wood there.

If you think two guys with the Estonian version of the Finnish jouhikko might be a bit serious, then think again. The music is playful and full of surprises. They’re two middle-aged men behaving like teenagers. In the vocals there’s usually a wide separation between the voices, Teder singing very high and Veisson very low, which gives it an airy, open quality. Marko Veisson also raps. Some lyrics are in English, but mostly it’s Estonian, although when you see the translations they are mostly word games. The opening track ‘Paala Järve Vaala Baar’ (The Bar of Paala Whale) is more about the sound than the meaning and it clearly sounds better in Estonian. ‘Ülesse’ is a fast-paced catchy song with these high and low vocal harmonies and some nice hiu kannel playing (this spell-corrected to ‘hip’ kannel playing, which is also true). Puuluup are true originals with a cult following. They are doing something pretty unusual, pushing obscure folk material towards the mainstream with a whole lot of panache.