Unintelligent Designs Digital Download

My debut solo album. Or at least the digital version of it. This one was a huge learning curve. I did most of the work on this myself. The album took over two years to make. I recorded, then I took a break. I edited, then I took a break. I mixed, and then I took a break. This album is very much where I was at in 2012. Listening to this album, and my latest one, at times makes me wonder if it's the same guy. I'm still incredibly proud of this one, and to this day it contains some of my favourite songs.

Track list (plus some short stories):

A Spark of Hope

This is an old song. Even the recording is old. The keys and the bass are a crummy old Casio, and the guitar was recorded directly into the mixer via a compressor. The song is a tip of the hat to a great Finnish bass player/composer by the name of Pekka Pohjola. Sadly he is no longer with us.

Headlight Violence

When we were touring actively with Deathlike Silence, someone thought it would be a good idea to have a guitar solo showpiece in the set. As I’m not a fan of long guitar solos where the guitar player is alone on stage, I wrote this little ditty. The fast theme is very Yngwie, but the main melody is from a dub jam we had together with a friend of mine called Masi (he plays a solo on the song “Unintelligent Designs”) and my father. It was always great fun to play live.

Chromatic Tuna

The name is the combination of a tuna fish and a Boss tuner. I can’t remember hot the song came together, apart from that it began with the drum beat. The working title was something like “Nice Beat”.

Lovely Spam

The working title of this one was ”Yngwie Goes to Macedonia”. I like traditional Macedonian music with its odd time signatures. I was exposed to it via my old guitar teacher, who is from ex Yugoslavia. So I joined together Yngwie with that. This was probably also the most difficult thing to play on the record.

The Promised Land of Roundabouts

The name derives from the Swedish town of Trollhättan. It’s a funny place. You can go from one roundabout into the next almost without leaving the first one. This one also started with the rhythm. The doubled fretless bass part is quite fun. One of my favourite things on the record is the contrast between the dry guitar sound of the A part contrasting with the guitar that’s drenched in delay in the B part, backed by a ton of keys and echo. I was going for a Devin Townsend feel, like he has in the song Trainfire.

Home

Home is a good place to be. This is also a very old song. The electric drums in the beginning are also from the same old Casio as the backing in “A Spark of Hope”.

The Feigning of Altruism

This is something that I do a lot. I write a heavy song with a nice melody. It’s almost a metal Jeff Beck thing.

Jammy Jam

Me and the drummer from Deathlike Silence, Janne Venho, did this bit when we recorded something or other. After we’d finished recording whatever it was we were doing, Janne laid down the drums for this and said “just play something over this”. So I did. Maybe not the most musical of moments on the record, but it sure was fun.

The Voices in My Head

Another fun one. The chord changes in the solo presented me with problems for some odd reason. Not sure why. The six string sweeps also did. They did because they were difficult.

Oneself as Another

One of my favourites on the record. Also the longest song. Also the only song to feature my 7-string Schecter on lead. There’s so much going on here in terms of influences. It goes from some kind of semi funky thing to Rammstein, to Yngwie, to Genesis, to Devin and more.

Sanna

This one is for my significant other, who was also incredibly patient during the making of this record. This is also probably my absolute favourite on the record. I like the chord changes in the A part. They’re very Pekka Pohjola. It’s also a difficult song to play.

Unintelligent Designs

My take on a guitar boogie kind of thing. Features Masi Hukari and Antti Härmä on guest solos. They did a cracking job.

The Demise of a Karaoke Bar

An old song featuring Janne Venho on drums. The guitar amp is a Roland Cube 60. The main rhythm is fun, and I think that that’s where the song started.

The Difficultist

Another old song, although this one was recorded especially for this album. It features me playing a fretless bass solo. Ooh! Dangerous!

Tuire’s and Ville’s Wedding Waltz

I wrote this for two friends of mine. The title should explain it all. It’s an older one, and features my dad on drums. No speedy guitar playing here, just tasteful melodies (or attempts to play something along those lines).

Until We Meet Again

This is very much influenced by Genesis (maybe combined with Devin Townsend). The character who says “Until we meet again and the case is solved” is a take on inspector Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers, from the Pink Panther movies. This one didn’t turn out quite as well as the Dr. Strangelove character who welcomed you to the record. Recording the spoken bits was extremely fun.