Next week one of our favourite bands, Delay Trees, release their new album 'Let Go'. We've been speaking to their lead singer Rami Vierula about the new Album, his other projects and of course.... football.
NMR: You seem to have been writing prolifically in the last few years, with Delay Trees, the 23:23 project and your own Rami Vierula release. Are you constantly writing new songs? ''Yeah I guess I am. I mean it comes and goes but I guess you could say I write songs on a weekly basis. Nowadays it's very intuitive for me and I've said earlier that I feel like I'm actually "thinking musically" sometimes. It just means that I feel I can translate something going on around me into music quite easily. I have music constantly playing in my head. Lyrics are more difficult for me than melodies, with those I sometimes struggle a lot.''
NMR: And do you write specifically for each project? Or do you find yourself swapping song ideas between projects?
''All of the three you mentioned are quite different so it comes naturally to write songs for a certain thing. Delay Trees is very dreamy yet poppy, 23:23 was a sort of a nod to the 50's and 90's, and in its lofi aesthetic something I wouldn't wanna push under Delay Trees' sound. My own solo stuff is in Finnish and it's a very different thing altogether. It's a new challenge for me as an artist, to be writing on a "new" language and not putting any boundaries for the music in itself. Actually I might be working on a flowy jazzy solo album later this year if everything goes well.''
''I might be working on a flowy jazzy solo album later this year if everything goes well.''
NMR: I didn't really want to ask too much about future stuff, because I'm hoping that everyone will just be concentrating on buying Delay Trees release, but the solo writing sounds great, and it's really interesting for us to get to know more music in a native language too. However you talk about 23:23 in a past tense ('was'), has that therefore been put away for good?
''23:23 is on hiatus for X amount of years. I feel like I had worn out that type of aesthetic in my songwriting. It didn't feel challenging enough anymore. Also I think the "trilogy" and Faraway Island EP provide quite a bit of material for anyone to dive in.
However I made a wisecrack promise that if / when 23:23 is back it'll happen through a Christmas album. And I intend to keep my word so...''
NMR: So the new Delay Trees album is due on the 24th March, what can you tell us about the new album?
''It's pretty and "to the point". It's probably the poppiest Delay Trees record so far. We love it a lot in the band although it has a lot of "dark" undertones to it lyrically. It's a good mixture of tender melodies and harsh stories.''
NMR: This is your 4th album, and there's been a couple of EPs too. Although there is a very distinct 'Delay Trees 'sound', the albums are different in many ways with 'Readymade' feeling the most confident and assured. I'm interested in how you feel Delay Trees have evolved over the 10 years?
''I feel like "confident" and "assured" are pretty much what we are now compared to 8 years ago. It's been a long road in learning about this strange entity that a band becomes, and being able to achieve the sounds and vibes you want more naturally. With 'Let Go' it was all very natural and dare I say "easy".
However the spirit of the band hasn't changed a bit in these ten years. We're still just four guys playing guitar based, melodic, pretty songs. We like being around each other, going to the studio and playing to our few lovely fans.''
''...the spirit of the band hasn't changed a bit in these ten years. We're still just four guys playing guitar based, melodic, pretty songs''
NMR: I know you were trying to get funding to do some Delay Trees live shows outside Finland, so we have to ask this - any chance you'll be making it to the UK?
''Hmmm... We didn't get funding so at the moment it looks unlikely. But you never know really, anything can change. We're definitely hoping for some Euro-dates with 'Let Go'. Let's see what happens. Fingers crossed everyone.''
NMR: From our perspective there's some pretty dark and hateful things happening in the world right now, so it would be great if you could contribute to an ongoing debate we're having at Nordic Music Review. Can music really influence change in this current era like it was able to during the protest movements of 50 years ago, or is everything just too commercialised now?
''I think music and popular culture as a whole is still the main thing in influencing youngsters. It might take years and it might only play a little part in the younger generation becoming more humane than ours but music and movies and literature and tv can definitely do it. But it can also do the opposite, it's a slippery slope.''
NMR: We love trying to unearth some of the gems of Finnish music that sadly don't get the attention here in the U.K., and Soliti in particular have some great bands. But do you have any recommendations for our readers on new Finnish artists / bands we may not have come across?
''One of my favourites right now are Plastic Tones, Verandan and Merries. Good melodies, songs, guys, girls. Check them out!''
NMR: Oh the mysterious 'Verandan', Nick Triani from Soliti mentioned them in an interview recently too! Finally... I have to ask this as last week I switched the TV over from Barcelona v PSG when Cavani scored for PSG, thinking it was 'game over' and watched Man City draw 0-0 with Stoke instead. So who do you think will win the Champions League this year, is it Barcelona all the way now?
''Hahah! This is funny. I actually didn't see it live on tv as I was across the other side of the globe and didn't know where to watch it. I checked a twitter live feed though at a café and after the amazing comeback I bumped into Chris Owens from Girls on the street. He was wearing a Barça shirt like a true fan should and it was a funny moment talking about the game in San Francisco downtown.
But honestly I don't think they're gonna win it. Lately it's been a matter of luck for the most part. Plus I value the Liga way more anyway... I hope they'll snatch it from Madrid.''
Thanks Rami! Now I know everyone likes to stream music, but please try and support Delay Trees by buying 'Let Go', which is released next week week on Soliti. You can pre-order it on the following link: http://www.delaytrees.com/letgo
We'll have a review written of the album just after the release date.