Music
There wasn’t really an awful lot of music in my childhood. Maybe that’s why the few corner stones that existed stand out in such relief. They tend to be more about specific tunes rather than specific artists*) or genres. The kicks were as likely to come from a melodic passage in some hymn I heard as from the drumbeat on the b-side on one of my big sisters old 45’s. It was different aspects of the same thing. I could always regonize it as something moving in my chest but it was a volatile creature. Looking for music of a certain kind the next big thing that hit me would often come from somewhere totally unexpected. Maybe I’m just blessed with an open mind. Then again, maybe not. But it’s certainly something I use in my own work. I try to suprise myself and am a firm believer in the role of intuition and happy accidents when making music. Of course there has to be method as well. And patience. One thing I do know; keep creating music for long enough and you´re bound to develop a style of your own, or at least seeds of one. It can’t be avoided. And the many roads you avoid count for as much as the ones walked down. It´s a fine balance between your personal taste and yourself.
People tend to know me from certain work or situations. Writing music for the national theatres in both Finland (both Kansallis Teatteri AND Svenska Teatern) and Sweden (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern); ‘The Disciple’ being Finlands Oscar nominee; sharing the stage with Nirvana; ‘Lola Upside Down’ gaining worldwide distribution being a few examples. While I’m proud of all that I tend to look forward to the next exciting project, whatever that may be. I simply love making music. I love the craftsmanship of it as well as the magic. Even when I make music to go with other media I aim to make the music I provide to hold up on its own and I would like it to take you somewhere.
Have a listen!
*) having said that my life wouldn’t have been the same without the Beatles, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Serge Gainsbourg, Jimi Hendrix, the Cure, the Kinks, XTC, Pugh Rogerfelt, Aimee Mann, Magazine, the Pixies, the Who, Cocteau twins, Neil Hannon, Laura Mvula, Mott the Hoople, Sparks, Dionne Warwick, Brazilian Girls….
Credits:
photo by Heidi Gabrielsson