PROLOGUE

Main chronology:

• 2005: Stars Are Holes in the Sky EP

STARS ARE HOLES IN THE SKY EP

1) Serpentine; 2) Stars Are Holes in the Sky; 3) My Appletree; 4) Lines of Mouth; 5) Is It People?

A sweet and short melanchly pop EP that may have been a minor note in the Finnish music history, but strong enough to still leave a lasting impression for those who did hear it.

For a short moment Prologue felt like the start of something great. The Finnish four-piece released their debut EP Stars Are Holes in the Sky in the mid-00s, and it turned out to be their final EP as well. Apart from a one-off download single Prologue weren't heard from afterwards and they became another yet another band with an expired home page and an abandoned Myspace profile. It's the sorry side of the great gold rush boom of the 00s when aspiring musicians realised that the internet was an incredible opportunity to find an audience: so much aspiring young talent putting their creativity out there, but now completely forgotten apart from the random few who happened to notice them at the right blink of time.

Had the stars aligned slightly more favourably, Prologue would definitely have had a chance to go somewhere further. Primarily, they had the title track of this EP - a gorgeous and melodically lush little gem characterised by an elegant piano riff, shimmering guitar that accompanies its notes and an effortlessly pretty and elegant chorus. It could have been a hit in the real, post-Parachutes world that was hungry for more Brit-styled piano moodiness, and comfortably slots alongside any of the landmark songs from more establishes names, even from a production point (there's a pretty strong mid-00s time stamp on this, which can either date it or act as a nostalgia device depending how you swing).

While it shines the brightest, the rest of the EP is more than adequate company for it and Prologue know how to write a perfectly pretty, atmospheric tune. "Serpentine" and "Lines of Mouth" in particular stand out: they're all about aching piano melodies, emotive falsetto vocals and melancholy guitars in a way that may not be particularly original, but Prologue know absolutely how to utilise them - "Serpentine" in particular is a gorgeous song. "My Appletree" leans a little heavy on the twee side but it's the perkiest song of the lot, and shows that Prologue can be more than just slow jams for the romantically miserable. "Is It People?" at the end is a little bit of a retread of everything that came before and while it closes off the EP fine, it's the least memorable of the lot: it's more of the same, but with weaker central melodies.

While not the most original lot of songs, they've stood the test of time: certainly more than the obviously home-produced CD I own where the disc label is now in the danger of peeling off. Perhaps Prologue could have evolved into something of their own with time: the aforementioned one-off single "Ghost Writing" hinted at a more dynamic, anthemic direction, and that song too has had considerable staying power and still has a rush of excitement to it (even through the LQ MP3 I have). And yet, it still feels like a criminally overlooked little hidden gem from the extremely fertile mid-00s years of Finnish independent music, and the title song in particular. Perhaps it's my own personal attachment to the EP colouring my perception - I'm not sure if this marked the actual first time I bought a release directly from a completely new, unestablished atc via the internet, but it certainly was among the earliest times. By now it feels like an old friend and it strikes me as a little sad that I might be the only one who remembers it that way. Still, even as I try to peel off my personal biases, I can't help but think that there's plenty of strengths here to perhaps have found a larger audience in another timeline - one where "Stars Are Holes in the Sky" is a deserved classic song beyond just my record shelf.

Physically: A very obviously home-made CD in a jewel case, with a little single-gatefold booklet with lyrics.