Baltic roundup: New music from Jüri Pootsmann, Triana Park, Justs, Monika, Vaidas and Tanel Padar

We are in what we would like to call “National Final PED”, the period after the craziness of all the national finals and before the madness of Eurovision itself. So what better time to freshen up on some Eurovision alums’ new releases? It’s time for a little trip over to the Baltics to have a listen to some new — or newish — music from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Jüri Pootsmann (Estonia 2016) – “Vihmapiisad Päikest Täis”

He’s the Estonian gentleman who wanted us to “Play” back in 2016. Now Jüri Pootsmann is back with a new song — and a new haircut. The song “Vihmapiisad Päikest Täis” was released in late January and is a sultry soft-tempo electro-pop sung in the enchanting native language of Estonia.

It tells the story of how two people find the perfect love in each other and describes the feeling of sudden happiness that makes you forget everything besides the now.

We still don’t have an official video for the song but we came across this live performance, which the Estonian Public Broadcaster published about a month ago.

Triana Park (Latvia 2017) – “Home”

They finished at the back of the “Line” last year, but that didn’t dent the spirit of Latvia’s Triana Park too much. With an established fan base back in Latvia, the band wasted no time and went straight into writing music for a new album.

“Home” is the second single from an upcoming album set to drop on April 18. The song was officially released mid-February but the band premiered it live at Latvia’s national final Supernova a week before the official release. You can watch the live performance here.

The song is a bit slower than Triana Park’s Eurovision entry. Instead of lasers and neon lights we have an acoustic guitar and a hint of soft-rock. But the band’s eclectic mix of pop and electronica still cuts through.

On their Facebook page Triana Park describe the song as “a story about the feeling of home that you can only get from the right people around you”.

Justs (Latvia 2016) – “Uz Palodzes”

In 2016 he wanted us feel our “Heartbeat“. Now Latvia’s Justs has released a new song “Uz Palodzes”. The song came out on March 8, timed with International Women’s Day. According to his Instagram and his manager, the song is a gift to all women. Thanks mate!

“Uz Palodzes” is an electronic pop song with a lounge feel to it. The intro also seems to be the chorus. Not the most common way to build up a song, so hats off to Justs for giving us something relatively fresh. And yes: we say hats off to Justs because he wrote the song himself, in collaboration with the producer Makree.

Monika Linkyte (Lithuania 2015) – “O Tu?”

She thought she was falling in love “This Time” back in 2015. Today the Lithuanian beauty Monika Linkyte splits her time between her hometown Vilnius and London. Monika has been keeping herself busy since her Eurovision appearance as she released her debut album in 2015 and has begun studying music at BIMM University in London.

Monika’s new song “O Tu?” was released February 20 as a part of an EP with the name “Old Love” that was conveniently released the same day. The song is comfortable pop rather than easy-listening and very radio-friendly.

Even though there is technically not much going on in the video — just Monika and her band singing and playing the song — they have spiced it up a bit with cool animated features and an interesting use of colour. These features make the video laid-back yet fun, just like song itself.

Happyendless feat.Vaidas Baumila (Lithuania 2015) – “Toli”

He shared the stage with Monika Linkyte representing Lithuania in 2015. And just like his singing partner Vaidas Baumila has been keeping busy since his Eurovision appearance. His newest work is a collaboration with the band Happyendless.

Happyendless is known for it mixture of new wave, rock and electronica, and has been one of the most popular bands in Lithuania since 2007.

The collaboration is called “Toli” and can best be described as new wave electronica, just like the band’s most typical songs. The video is quite monotonous yet mesmerising during the verses — you get the feeling you are driving through the same landscape over and over again. Then the chorus hits you and it’s like you’ve fallen into a wormhole. Cool visuals that seem to capture the theme of the song as the title translates to “Far Away” and tells the story of a person’s dream-like state while yearning for freedom. The lyrics are inspired by Vaidas’ own experience after he broke his leg. The experience made him feel trapped and the only thing he wanted was to get out and about.

Tanel Padar (Estonia 2001) – “Soovin Head”

He achieved Estonia’s only victory to date along with his partner Dave Benton, a victory not “Everybody” had predicted. Today Tanel Padar is an established artist in his homeland Estonia and has been touring a lot lately along with his band.

“Soovin Head” is a part of Tanel’s EP “Parem Veelgi”, which was released in late 2017 so it might not be a brand new single, but hey, we said newish music after all. The song is a bluesy pop song and tells the story of a man who’s had a quarrel with his significant other and is looking back with the hope of finding out what went wrong.

The melancholia of the song comes through well in the video. One, it shows the story in rewind which plays with the man’s sense of guilt and contrition. Two, it literally is 3 and a half minutes of a couple arguing.

What do you think of these new tracks? Which is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.

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