SINGLE REVIEW: LORETTA PROBLEM (featuring Juha Lagström)- ‘The Waltz Of My Drunken Dream’ (2019)

Wow! What to say except that Finland’s Loretta Problem have hit the jackpot here with their new single. I think it’s  no exaggeration to say it’s a song that The Pogues would have been proud to record! Featuring Juha Lagström on vocals ‘The Waltz Of My Drunken Dream’ is perhaps Loretta Problem’s most influenced Irish folk song and I can’t wait to hear more of them! 

Loretta Problem have featured on these pages several times in their past with their Scandinavian/ Celtic flavoured punk rock and back in the beginning we even had them labelled as “not one of the most prolific bands in the celtic-punk scene but certainly one of the more interesting”. Well we will have to change that I think. They may still be one of the more interesting and innovative bands around in the scene but the last few years have seen more than regular releases hitting our doorstep/e-mail tray seeing them fit more in the last handful of years than the previous two decades!. Formed in the tiny Finish town of Vaasa in 1994 and yes Finland may be more famous for death-metal but such is the booming popularity of Celtic-Punk that you’ll always find one band representing everywhere and for Finland it is Loretta Problem. All the Nordic countries seem to have healthy alternative music scenes and appear to be much more open to each others music. Loretta Problem have released one album and a handful of singles in their time together which spread over those two decades plus may not be much but for well over a decade Loretta Problem took a back seat while the various band members were working on other projects like families or in other bands. Getting together to play every now and then at the odd gig or festival the band eventually regrouped and Loretta Problem have now become a permanent fixture on the music scene in their home country and, with every release, further afield too.

I sit and drink through rainy days
And after all what can I say?
Not sure ’bout God but when you pray
Pray for me too
Pray for me too

I lose out babe, reeled from the start
I’m lost, my love, somewhere in my heart
Please keep your faith, stay as you are
Shine like a star
Shine like a star

We waltz till the dawn under darkening skies
The steeples keep silent, the wind’s blowing by
Your eyes bring the light upon this falling night.
The ragged silver screen
of my drunken dream
…my drunken dream

One  for the road, one for yesterday
One more for hope and for this sad day
Not sure ’bout God but when you pray
Pray for me too
Pray for me too

We waltz till the dawn under darkening skies
The steeples keep silent, the wind’s blowing by
Your eyes bring the light upon this falling night.
The ragged silver screen
of my drunken dream
…   my drunken dream
….  my drunken dream
….. my drunken dream

One listen to ‘The Waltz Of My Drunken Dream’ will I am sure be more than enough for you all to fall in love with Loretta Problem though it is quite the departure from their usual fare. Punk rock with fiddle and the odd Celtic flourish is normal but here they try something new and by Christ it has worked! With the devilishly good looking Finish actor and singer (and former bandmate) Juha Lagström on vocals and aided by visiting musicians Lauri Kotamäki on accordion and Petri Judin on tin-whistle the song has an unmistakable Poguesy air to it but without any attempt at being a copy of them. Juha’s voice is strong and powerful and he cuts a more than menacing figure in the excellent accompanying video too.

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Tagged: Loretta Problem, The Pogues