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Paris-Move – English Translation
PARIS-MOVE – ENGLISH TRANSLATION
English translation of the original Paris-Move review by Patrick Dallongeville, published 3 October 2026.
Coming to us from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is the debut album by this band — whose members are certainly no newcomers.
Pete Bergman (lead vocals, rhythm guitar and songwriting), Gona Lehtinen (lead guitar), Jan "Smöde" Smedberg (bass and backing vocals) and Sauli Karhu (drums and backing vocals) shut themselves away at Tomi Leino's Suprovox Recording Studio to capture these ten original songs live in the studio, armed with one simple guiding principle:
"No style is our style, no direction is our direction. Play what feels right, leave some room for accidents and keep the music alive. No need to squeeze every song into the same box. If it grooves, swings, growls or just feels damn good, it belongs here."
True to that philosophy, "Chased By Time" immediately recalls the rockabilly-tinged pub rock once practised by that great original Mickey Jupp. Its feverish rhythm section supports a surf-flavoured lead guitar reminiscent of the sparks once struck by Link Wray and Chris Spedding alongside Robert Gordon, or even those fanned by Poison Ivy in The Cramps.
That impression is reinforced by the equally frantic "Hoodoo Against Your Voodoo," which for its part evokes The Unknowns of the late Bruce Joyner. Over an exotic mambo beat, a slide guitar howls at the moon, while Bergman's raspy voice conjures up Tom Waits on amphetamines.
The sardonically titled "Chord That Never Came" takes on swampy shades somewhere between Creedence and Chris Dreja, while its lyrics embrace the surrealist touch of Johnny Dowd or Jim White (real name Michael Davis Pratt), whose 1997 Wrong-Eyed Jesus (The Mysterious Tale Of How I Shouted) remains a notorious example of pataphysics applied to the Bible Belt.
A cheerful mambo despite its ominous undertones, "Mr Johnson's Lucky Pie" gives the excellent Gona Lehtinen another opportunity to make his surf guitar sparkle, while his bandmates answer him in chorus.
Amid this stylistic jumble, the southern soul blues of "How Can You Miss" sounds almost like an unreleased Lynyrd Skynyrd or Allman Brothers track. Once again, Lehtinen takes the lion's share with a solo remarkable for both its feeling and concision.
Then the genuine funk of "A.J. Leafer," "Al Dante" and "Almost A Man" comes bouncing along like space hoppers over a huge bass and breakbeat, while the lead guitar's six strings thrash about like an alligator disturbed in the middle of its nap.
If you manage not to blissfully shake your body to this, you must be suffering from a severe case of catalepsy.
A wicked electrified slide then introduces the dragging double shuffle "Dicco Sniffin' Boogie," whose greasy character recalls early ZZ Top — music for bikers who have crashed their motorcycles and are now on codeine, so to speak.
This terrific record closes with the second-line beat of "The One That Got Away," taking us straight to New Orleans — hardly an everyday occurrence at these icy latitudes — and confirming the proudly proclaimed eclecticism of these cheeky rogues.
My album of the month — and it's only the 3rd. Everything I love in one big glass!
— Patrick Dallongeville / Paris-Move, France
Translated from the original French review.