Yup, Lighthouse Sparrows “Dark Matter” saga continues ;-). Another ep with 4 songs is out the gate. 3 songs from the same sessions as “Alpha” and one new, Dent de Lions. In the original batch there was a song called “Dandelions”; the text was fine but the song itself lacked something, so a new one was made. It’s a sort of continuation of our quest to expand our horizons. As You can imagine, we’re still quite solidly rooted in the sounds and feelings of our formative years so no huge departure there. But at least another decade ;-), we dip into the emotive soundscape of trip hop with this one. But hey, check for yourself:
Category Archives: Music
Dark Matter (alpha) is out!
It certainly took a while. “Aerials” was released in January 2022. Rest of ’22 was spent on other stuff ie. work etc. Around 10 songs were composed and arranged in ’23. We were keen to have a release out sooner rather than later so it was decided to split the material into two parts, two ep’s.
More info here
Little Things
The third installment of SStB is out and about! Read more here.
Some links:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0BGJL1mcfxsFYq4oyjmpsk?si=nH3Vq4sITKS_pnA0z-u0yQ
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/fi/album/little-things/1701598992
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lUxK8nxZfdqkbVujJVaxUTjsrhUQ_sIv0
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/sstb_samsara/
Withering
The single from upcoming album “Little Things” is out. Spotify – Apple Music.
Withering is, according to my focus group 😁, the most accessible of the 10 songs from the album. It’s also the only one where I had a writing partner, Jani Rämö. Jani kindly handed me a bunch of his lyrics quite a few years back and I’ve used them copiously all over my projects, namely Liquid Wolf‘s Second Wind parts 1 and 2 plus Flipside’s second ep Dead Light. The crew in the song is the same as most of the album: Sami Kuoppamäki on drums, me on lead vocals, guitars, bass and keys and Ella Eriksson (ellaella) and Valtteri Tuominen on backing vocals.
Summer is…
an active time, at least for me. I don’t have the nerve to just sit around for more than few days. So I’ve managed to finalise the SStB’s “Little Things”, it will be released late August. First serving will be single “Withering”, due 4th of August. Here’s the cover:
I’m mighty pleased with the album. It feels new and fresh compared to the earlier SStB releases, not to belittle them in any way. Aki Sihvonen, my co-producer lent an invaluable hand in weeding out the right material from my demos and giving sound advice when ever needed. More on this closer to the release, basic SStB info can of course be found here.
Lighthouse Sparrows new EP or some such is moving along nicely as well. We have 8 songs in pretty good shape. We’ve managed to hack the arrangements and most of melodies/lyrics into good shape and Miri has this time around played demo drums for most of the songs which of course helps a lot. During these last weeks we’ve gone thru the songs a second time and should be ready to start recording (as much as is needed) properly during July. We’re planning to release one EP of probably 4 songs late spring/early winter and either compose/arrange etc more songs for a full lenght album or keep releasing EP’s, we’ll see.
TWO is out!
Yes, ’tis the season. This one has been in the making for a looooong time. First sessions were in 1984, the last ones 2021. So, it’s the second album of Chapter One, the important band of my youth. We were active from 1983 to 1985, did quite a few gigs and had a great time learning our skills. I decided to produce some songs of ours that didn’t get recorded back then. Hannu graciously agreed and we started in 2015. The project, after a good start, took a long pause. In 2019 it was time to continue. Besides Hannu also Jouni and Jukka participated and we managed to get four songs done. This would not have been possible without the priceless help of my “secret” ace in the hole, Teijo Tikkanen, who played drums and piano on the new songs. The last link in the chain was Riikka Muikku who designed and executed the beautiful artwork of the sleeve. We also gathered all the relevant info to a new website, aptly named chapterone.fi. So I hope You enjoy it!
Aerials is out!
Yes, the digital version was released last friday ie. 14012022. Woohoo!
The double vinyl should arrive within a month. The track listing is:
Bates
Assimilate
Moodswings
Kibitzer
No Still Moment
Elephant
Like Blood
Itinerant
Safe and Sound
Percolator
Youth
Here’s Spotify:
On the vinyl edition song order is different due to the limitations of time/side. SO:
A: Bates – Assimilate – Moodswings – Itinerant
B: Like Blood – Elephant – Youth
C: Kibitzer – Safe and Sound – No Still Moment
D: Percolator – Premonition (vinyl bonus)
The crew is the same as it has been, Olli on vocals and keys, Sami on vocals, guitar and bass plus our fixed guests Miri Miettinen on drums and Ella Eriksson on backing vocals.
Second Wind, part 1
It’s mastered, the cover done. Materials are heading for duplication next week. I’m very happy!
Wellwell
Sorry for the long absence. I’ve been flooded with work…Did the “Anna mulle Lovee”, mixed “Järven Tarina”, “Onnenonkija” and some other movies, did a mix of “Black Widows” (Scandinavian remake, 8 episodes) and some episodes of “Bordertown” etc etc. Luckily I’ve managed to squeeze time for Liquid Wolf (Drums with Kuoppis = done, brass with Pepa = almost done) and my newest pet project, Inertia. Inertia is old friends Tipi (FlipSide) on bass, Tomi “Laatu” Laaksonen (Kataya Live, KuDos) on drums and my fellow sound designer/musician Janne Laine on guitar. I’m doing some gtrs, keys and lead vocals. We’ve managed to whip 5-6 songs into shape and it’s been a hoot! Hope to have some recordings soon…Will start mixing LW with Samu this month, I hope!
Take care!
Chapter One: Two – looming
It’s been severely delayed but we’re still moving. As You may recall, the plan was to (re)do 4 of the old songs, Behind the gaze, Beyond the vision, Just another role and Wings of amor.
Well, we are – The original plan was just to do them as they were. It quickly became apparent that it was not such a good idea. Let sleeping dogs lie…,-).
The only plan that made real sense was to redo everything, starting from the arrangements. Sami did just that. The songs in effect became different songs. So the lyrics needed to be redone, not all together but some of the fiery youthfulness (i.e.. naiveté) needed to be weeded out. Sami and Hannu did that. As years had taken some toll of Hannu’s higher vocal register, the melodies needed to be adjusted. Hannu did that.
We’re now halfway there; Behind the gaze and Beyond the vision are done. So 2 more to go. Hopefully we get them done soon. As the songs progress, I wanted to change a few things still. The new songs will be under “Chapter Two” moniker ;-). And there will be some guests appearing who were not in the original line-up(s). The first one being Teijo Tikkanen, who will be playing piano on “Behind the gaze” at least. Some talk of female backing vocals has also been in the air.
So here we go!
