Category: Production
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About “Last Rose Of Summer”
Last Rose of Summer was born in a late summer of the mid-1990s, out of a synthesizer. I had saved for a long time to buy a Korg Trinity, and its arpeggiator became my playground. One evening — it must have been a warm stretch of July or early August — I set the machine…
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About “Morning”
“Morning” originally started as a promise to myself after a major, life-altering experience I had in the summer of 1993. After spending the whole summer on a course by a famous Finnish primal therapist doing group exercises and sessions that combined dance, movement and primal therapy to increase our knowledge about ourselves, something inside me…
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About “Love Boat”
Six Weeks Between Two Countries My song “Love Boat” is rooted in the six weeks I spent as a performer on a cruise ship travelling between Finland and Sweden in 1999. It was a strange experience, because I remained onboard for almost the entire time. I may have stepped ashore once or twice on either…
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About “Underwurlde”
Every album needs a beginning, and “Eternal Echoes”, structured, quietly, as a Hero’s Journey across its ten songs has “Underwurlde” where that journey starts. Let’s start with the music. Underneath the modern production is an old Finnish folk song from Karelia, Finland so the bones of the melody are older than anything else on “Eternal…
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About “My Dreams Of Tomorrow”
Every Song Had to Belong From the moment I began composing “Eternal Echoes,” I knew the album needed variety. Every song had to stand on its own — complete, distinctive, with a strong identity of its own. At the same time, they all needed to belong to the same larger picture. The songs are individual…
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About “Free To Fly”
The Origin: A Farmhouse and a Feeling of Floating I originally wrote “Free to Fly” in the summer of 1994 or 1995 — the exact year has dissolved, which tells you something about how old this song is. The inspiration came from something else entirely: a three-month summer course I took in 1993. We stayed…
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About “I Held You Once”
The idea for “I Held You Once” came from my time in India. I lived and worked there for a little over a year, on assignment that was meant to last two. The pollution cut it short and sent me back to Finland, but the country itself I loved without reservation. In 2010 Mumbai was…
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About “Poliphilos’s Party For The Poor And Betrayed”
Never has songwriting been such a journey as with “Poliphilos’s Party For The Poor & Betrayed”. And right away I want to thank my produced Juho to staying with me as I tried to merge the impossible. What I knew from the start that the “Eternal Echoes” album needed a “mentor song” – a track…
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About “Skylark”
1. The Origin: A Room, a River, and a Rebellion The seeds of Skylark were planted in the early years of my independence, a time of raw self-discovery and quiet rebellion of the 1990s. After graduating from high school and completing my army service, I was expected to follow a conventional path—doctor, lawyer, or pilot.…
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About “European Son”
1. The Origin: From Daydream to Dualism The inspiration for “European Son” emerged from a deeply personal place, rooted in my own romantic 20-something daydreams in the 90’s. There’s also a sonic memory from the performance of Helsinki Dance Company and its interval act sung by Tove Wingren in 1996. It must then have been…