Photo by Tero Ahonen
Today we got a lovely musical treasure for all fans of cinematic musical beauty from the North. Finnish singer/songwriter MIKKO JOENSSU is teasing his upcoming new LP Amen 3 with a haunting track called Dream About A Miracle. The record marks the completion of MIKKO JOENSSU‘s three-album triptych. The first two albums, Amen 1 and Amen 2 were released last year to wide acclaim in the artist’s native homeland of Finland. While the first album explores more natural themes and the second reflected a more upbeat, popular sensibility, Amen 3 is more dreamlike, exploring darker aspects of the artist’s life and experience as an artist.
This new single expresses a profound sense of longing and sadness, but also seems to remain distinct from a place that we might consider ‘reality.’ For this album, JOENSSU describes looking for inspiration in alternative places:
‘[I have] not been listening to anything for years. I feel good about inventing things on my own. Of course, I’ve done my days of collecting influences and have respect for Scott Walker and the productions of Lee Hazlewood but the film director Andrei Tarkovsky has been there for me the whole time. He builds beautiful and weird worlds which have a lot to do with how a person’s mind works. He captures – takes – your soul. You sink into the complete worlds he has built.’
In addition to the more filmic and abstract inspiration for the album, there seems to be an homage to BJÖRK in the way MIKKO JOENSSU‘s ethereal voice creates a kind of rhythmic confusion with the strict, simple ambience of the instrumental texture. The LP arrives on June 2 via Svart Records/ Cargo and you can enjoy the world premiere of its latest song Dream About A Miracle right here.
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