Hey, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What have you been up to over the past year in this big old mess?
Thanks as well, nice to hear from you
Last year has been a big effort to complete my three-year project for the release of my debut album. A lot has happened in the meantime, and somewhere you just have to let go and trust that things will work out. It’s a big move when you could always do more and better. I’ll save them for the next one.
I’m very interested in how you started your adventure with music, and did you know from the beginning that this is what you wanted to do?
Music has always been an important part of my life. I started the project of making the album three years ago, and releasing my own album has been a big dream of mine.
The birth of my second single “Dream” was kind of the impetus for writing the lyrics for all the songs. And the moment was special. Dream was born at night when I was trying to fall asleep under the glow of the full moon. While I was watching the glow of the moon, a chorus started playing in my head and I wrote it down. Listening to inspiration and acting on it was a powerful experience. I explained to someone dear to me that Dream was born when the moon talked and I wrote.
At that moment I finally realized that I could actually make music myself, it would be a wild ride and I jumped on board.
Congrats on your new release, ‘Air’. Can you give us some insight into it?
Thank you, Air is my third single-release, and whole album is about to come in public on Friday 26.5.
In my mind, the album has been one big entity from the beginning, which has been shaped into pieces, songs. The lyrics connect the work into a story that carries from one song to the next. Each song has a distinct piano melancholy, but they are unique on their own. The minor-chord sadness of the album is striking, and it’s easy to sink into its beauty.
“Air” is the last part of a double song, which also works as its own song. In order to delve into the whole, you also need to listen to the song called “Eternity”. The album is a continuous story, Air is one mournful part of its narrative. Perhaps the most touching song on the whole album, the deepest turning point in the story.
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as an artist?
Even in these three years there has been a lot of self-challenging, learning, and development. At this moment, I feel that I still have a long way to go to where I want to be, and what I can offer.
I have a wonderful support network around me, who spar and help me develop. I am grateful to them, and I listen to their advice and learn from mistakes to move forward. Only by experimenting and learning from mistakes can you move forward and develop.
I made a big decision to leave the album as it was at that moment. You could always go on and on, fix and file. But it’s also good to see and hear your own journey of development. The work is created in the readiness that it is in that moment. You could always improve, but at some point you just have to let go in order to move on to the next one.
What should we expect from your next releases in terms of style and sound? How different are they going to be compared to your previous works?
Even in the future, Piper’s style will be characterized by a mournful piano and poetic storytelling, from which my songs were born.
“What is the heart for?” – in the music heard on the album, the other instruments for the compositions that started from the piano keys have been played by my music partner Saku Anttila. Saku understands my vision from one word. In the music, you can hear the creative interpretations of the working couple woven together. The result is a layered, “musical painting”, in which I figuratively drew the outlines of a piano note, and Saku completed this art with colors. From the carbon black heard at the beginning through the valors – to the spectrums of all colors heard at the end.
I warmly recommend listening to the whole album “What is the heart for” from 26 May 2023.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
To tell the truth, I’m rooted and grew up in Finnish melancholy and the metal-oriented music coming from here. I have also always been attracted to traditional, classic rock from the 80s and 90s.
But I have been influenced by many kinds of piano music. My background is in classical music (which can be heard in some of my compositions), and in my studies of pop-jazz music I have gotten to know different genres of music. Naturally, these all affect what my fingers create on the piano keys and sounds in my mind. We ourselves call our music lyrical rock, but we don’t strive to be what others are.
I set out to realize my musical dream with my debut album “What is the heart for?”. With it, I want to open up my musical vision of a fantasy world that you can completely immerse yourself in and escape to and create tunes. That world can be a bit broken and melancholic, but it is beautiful. It is a mixture of half- truths, dreams, illusions and fantasy, while being strongly connected to Finish nature.
My music is about the fleeting moments in life and emotions that reflects those moments. Born out of feelings that channeled into music. I want those who listen to my music to be inspired and make their own interpretations of it, and be carried by away by emotions.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
My first single release, “Self-Consicuousness”, got attention in South America, especially Brazil. For a Finn, of course, it would be an exotic place to try performing, as would North American countries, the United States and Canada. So I would hope for performances there, where there would be interest in my music. The more metal-oriented side of my music has received attention in Europe, especially in Spain and the UK.
Can we expect a new EP or an album from you in the near future?
The next album is already in the works. I have written lyrics, and the compositions for the piano parts are already in good shape. I hope to make the next album on a faster schedule.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs, and what have you got planned for 2023?
In addition to the release of the album, the year 2023 has been spent working on music projects. There have already been a few gigs and more are planned for the fall. The projects evoke old songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s that fit Piper’s style. The project is called “Piper in the Dawn of the Past”. Recordings and releases related to these may appear before Piper’s own second album. Now the gigs are related to this project, but the goal is to organize gigs for Piper’s own music as well. I’m putting together a band for that. Let’s see where we end up
