”Kahden Kuun Sirpit” (”Two Crescents”) is the first full-lenght album of the current, now 3-year old Viima line-up. Transition from female to male singer has considerably affected the band’s new sound. The same applies to the flute and the soprano sax played by the new frontman. Viima, which rehearses in Turku, Finland, has five members and two them are professional musicians. Compositions of the Finnish-singing Viima contain large instrumental parts (one of the tracks is entirely instrumental), but the lyrics also play an important role. Part of the texts are Finnish poetry from the early 20th century, the rest of them are rock lyrics of today. The guitarist and the original member, Mikko Uusi-Oukari, and the new members vocalist Hannu Hiltula and drummer Mikko Väärälä have composed all the tracks for the album. The keyboard player Kimmo Lähteenmäki, who wrote several tracks for the first album, was busy with his studies and could not participate in composing. Aapo Honkanen, member since 2005, plays the bass guitar. The title track of the spacious sounding album, ”Kahden Kuun Sirpit” (”Two Crescents”), combines the history of the city of Turku with story of the character’s life in the city and in the archipelago. The title refers to the way the story handles and modifies the truth. Part of the text is based on reality and the rest reflects it in it’s own way. On the other hand the name also refers to a perfect moment by the warm and calm sea when the moon is shining and is reflected from the glassy sea. Viima’s musical style can be defined as 70’s-influenced symphonic folk-prog. No heavy guitar walls can be heard. Instead the sound world is enriched with a violin quartet and nature sounds. The band has also used some original keyboards, like the Mellotron, Rhodes-piano, Hammond-organ and analog synthesizers. The recording of ”Kahden Kuun Sirpit” was done during two years. The reason for the long period is mainly due to scheduling. The recordings were interrupted by the band’s other projects, like participation to concept and tribute albums (”Kalevala”, ”Inferno” ja ”Tuonen Tytär II” by Colossus/Musea Records), and in general the so-called real life, work etc. The album was recorded in parts, but the majority of final takes were recorded between June-November 2008.