Kumu ÖÖ (Kumu Night) @ Estonian Art Museum, 20th June 2008

This year's Kumu ÖÖ (Kumu Night) music festival showed improvement in terms of inviting excellent foreign performers to Estonia. Unfortunately it also pointed to a problem that is still a rule rather than exception in Estonian concert halls: bad acoustics.

Sound problems were already present at the outdoor stage where Estonian bands presented their recent records. Maikameikers presented, playing in their known goodness, material from their debut album "8Hz". Particularly outstanding was the extroverted frontman Alan Proosa. Unfortunately, the band suffered from thin bass sound. As if that weren't enough, soundmen approached the band shortly after their set falsely accusing the band of breaking equipment. Köök, whose vinyl single "Ereliukas" release was delayed to July, sounded ok, whereas Stella (presenting "Love You Boy" album) suffered from a muddy and unclear sound.

One of the most interesting foreign bands that played in the big hall of the building, the British They Came from the Stars I Saw Them, were a quartet who wore white costumes and whose set presented enough groove, humor and energy to satisfy. The band was capable of rocking out without guitars, inviting audience participation, conjuring up interesting electronic sounds and even improvising. Naomi Auerfeld (vocals, reeds) surprised with a sharp, penetrating yet pure and sweet clarinet tone, particularly in the upper register.

However, the sound in the big hall was deafeningly loud. Especially for the headliners The Orb. Some of the listeners had expected a calmer and more ambient-driven set. Instead, the public was treated to a more beat-driven and noisier side of the band. Towards the end, their set had become a pure rave. Unfortunately, the band's multi-layered and detailed sound was - again - held back by substandard amplification.

The best sound was to be expected at the auditorium, where the public saw the quieter and more introverted acts. The most impressive of them was the German experimental pianist Hauschka aka Volker Bertelmann. He played several objects on and into the strings and thus managed to sound richer than most multi-member bands. His prepared piano sounded fairly orchestral, like a cross between grand piano, harpsichord and xylophone. The result was music that was calm, but dynamic and capable of sustaining interest.

To sum up, Kumu ÖÖ festival included several artists whose concert performance was impeccable. In order to improve from that, it would be necessary to stress the importance of decent amplification a lot more.

*This concert review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation