Samsara sings the blues. My newest solo alias. This is the singer-songwriter, me at my barest. Releases “Blacks & Blues” and “misplaced” can be found from iTunes here and Spotify here.
misplaced backstory:
Yes, the second SSTB release is done and released. It does seem that 3 years is a minimum for any of my projects. The compositional phase (2014-2016) was probably more or less simultaneous with the material of “Second Wind”, these songs were markedly different from the prog/metal genre of Liquid Wolf, there being similarities of course. These, once again, found themselves in front of the positively critical ears and mind of Teijo Tikkanen some time during the summer of 2016. In one lengthy session we managed to go thru and weed basically all of the songs that later surfaced on the album. I might be repeating myself, but it always is a real hoot to work with the guy, he just finds the best ways to make these songs come alive.
This from the bio of misplaced:
It all began with me wanting to sing. As a youth I had sung in a band but probably the insecurities of that tender age made me give it up. I then redirected my musical energies to playing guitar, bass and keys.
In the early years of the second decade of 2000’s I decided to give it another go. Though never regretting that decision, there’s naturally been some challenges. One’s own voice sounds, to put it nicely, terrible…
Well, You get used to almost anything and one does learn while doing it, right?
In 2014 we had reached a point where the first SSTB album was being done. My all time favorite musician and production partner Teijo Tikkanen graciously agreed to participate, once again, probably not quite knowing what he had agreed to. Well, “Blacks and Blues” got done and for a first effort it’s pretty decent.
While I was busy working elsewhere, new sstb-sounding songs kept appearing and piling in the drawer. With Teijo I took them by the horns in late 2016 and we began
to massage them into shape. We had a few very fruitful sessions at Teijo’s T-Sonics studio but “real” work once again interrupted our flow and it was late 2018 when we managed to get going again. Sessions at Perfect Sound Studio made the notes and arrangements settle into their final shapes and the package was ready to be delivered, this time to an outsider, to be mixed. This outsider, Aki Sihvonen from Finnvox Studios, proved to be an ideal addition to the sstb gang and he lifted the songs one step higher. After at least comparatively speaking very fast mixing the final stage, mastering, was once again Pauli Saastamoinen’s domain. He smoothed the rough edges at Finnvox and the album was ready. The cover image and layout by a true artist, Riikka Muikku, crowned it all.
I’m happy and excited, this is really good!
Blacks & Blues backstory:
We straightened the songs into shape and convened at Perfect Sound Studio to record drums and guitars, it was the mid summer of 2013. And play and record we did, with Antwon taking care of the rec button. In two days we had basic tracks for 10 songs and one, “Futile”, that proved to be more difficult to tame. After some consideration I managed to whip “Futile” into form as well and honed all 11 into shape for the next part, the bass sessions in Nurmes. We decided to split the bass duties evenly, Teijo playing bass for 6 songs and me 5. Teijo played most of the keyboards and sung b voxes as well. For some of the songs I had a Dark Side of the Moon -choir vibe in mind (surprise!) so I asked Anu Wuori, Satu Wilkman and Riikka Muikku to be my choir of soul sisters. And they did!
Lastly I sang the songs by myself, and resung them and…You get the picture. Actually, it wasn’t that hard but since I hadn’t sung lead in quite a while, it took some time to get into the groove. I’m still bit undecided on the end result but on the other hand; who else would have sung these songs the way I wanted them to be sung?
History:
The first release is basically done, some vocals need to be remade, but the mixing will start February 2014 anyway. Release either in May or August. All the playing and singing was done by yours truly and Teijo Tikkanen. Some soulful bvoxes were sung by three gorgeous ladies: Anu Wuori, Riikka Muikku and Satu Wilkman. Stay tuned!
