Flying the flag for Finland with their beautiful new album ‘Afterlife’
Interview : Dan Prince
Jori, Juho welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
JP: “In my hometown, Helsinki. Waiting for Jori to arrive here – there’s a Sin Cos Tan show in Helsinki tonight.”
JH: “On a train, heading towards the new capital, Helsinki.”
You have a working relationship that must drive other artists round the bend! It takes you just a few days to rattle out something like 20 tracks! So, just how long did it take you guys to create the wonderful ‘Afterlife’ album, the follow up to your self titled album from 2012?
JP: “It didn’t take long. Due to the fact that we live in two different towns, we work mostly on the weekends. I’d say that altogether it only took around 2-3 weeks.”
JH: “Yeah, we tend to have these days when things just click. Then we take a week or two off, maybe write some stuff on our own, and return to these ideas with fresh ears and develop them further. It’s a neat system. We started on the album in January and by the end of June it was done.”
The whole Sin Cos Tan sound is a lot more mature than the Villa Nah work you did together and alone Juho. You once said that you felt that you wanted to “focus on strong songs and have a production and arrangement that supports the song, rather than distracting from it”. Care to elaborate on that…
JP: “I think what I meant was that I always prioritize songwriting over production. In a lot of music out there today it doesn’t seem to be that way…But with Sin Cos Tan, it’s easy to have both, due to Jori’s involvement in the process. He shares my views on the importance of songwriting, and has great experience in terms of production as well. Which partly explains why we gel quite well in the studio.”
Well it’s a beautiful album, as people have mentioned…hearts are broken and spirits are awoken. Please give us a few words on each of your creations…
Limbo
JP: “Lead single. Probably the most accessible pop track we’ve done. Hallelujah!”
JH: “It emerged midway thru the sessions and kinda defined the vibe of the album.”
Part Of Me
JP: “Melancholy disco, seems to go over really well live.”
JH: “In my head I wanted the feel of this song to be a mixture of Chromatics and Electronic.”
Ritual
JP: “Very vibrant, reminds me of waterfalls…Vocals have a bit of an Animal Collective vibe to them. Definitely one of the lightest moments on the album.”
JH: “If Animal Collective covered OMD, with Timbaland on drum programming. For me it’s quite often kinda fun to take something like that as a starting point for production. Sometimes you can hear that in the end result, usually not, though. Possibly the most euphoric song I’ve ever been involved with.”
Heat
JP: “This track was finished late spring ’13, and the summer turned out to be really hot here. Hence the title… I really love the outro on this one.”
JH: “The verse and the beats came around already on the sessions of the first album, but we never got around finishing it as the mood wasn’t really what we wanted on the debut album. I’m glad we revisited it.”
Destroyer
JP: “One of my favourites. Pretty apocalyptic.”
JH: “We wanted this to sound ominous and modern. Which (sic!) it does.”
Fair Rewards
JP: “The soundtrack to a rainy afternoon.”
JH: “I’d had this chord progression around for a long time, played with an old Russian analog synth. There was this magic vibe that somehow took us back to some distant memories. It’s an homage of sorts to records from ’20s and ’30s which we both enjoy quite a bit.”
Heart on a Plate
JP: “For some reason, I was thinking of Tracey Thorne when singing this. I think it could work well with a female singer.”
JH: “I always kind of forget about this track, but when I hear it it’s my favourite. Simple and powerful.”
Avant Garde
JP: “Casey Spooner. What’s not to love?”
JH: “If you leave me alone in the studio with an intention to make pop, not house or techno, I always come up with the same beat. I’ll never get enough of this vibe that comes from this uptempo rhythm combined with lush pads and synth bass.”
Television
JP: “Possibly the most straightforward and instant track on the album. It came about really quickly too. Nice Miami Vice ending.”
JH: “A song that initially was supposed to be a digital bonus at best, but turned out to be single candidate. Who knew?”
Moonstruck
JP: “I think this is my personal favourite. Intimate and floaty.”
JH: “It’s that uptempo vibe again with dreamy stacked pianos. A real heartbreaker.”
Burning Man
JP: “Album closer, great production by Jori. Thematically bookends the album (Afterlife) nicely with the opening track Limbo.”
JH: “Very ambitious song that breaks the pop-mould. Somehow unlike us, but at the same time one of my favorites. Maybe that’s why.”
You remarked that you thought one of the strengths of your first album was that the soundscape was very honest, you didn’t try and make each song fit a certain formula you might’ve wanted to have. So what do you think are the strengths of ‘Afterlife’?
JP: “Definitely the colour and dynamics. Our first album was consciously quite nocturnal in its tone. This time we wanted to do things differently; bring a bit more light in. And I think we achieved that.”
JH: “Yes. With Afterlife we loosened up a bit on the rules we had on the first album, and we also wanted to surprise the listener. Which I think we did; a lot of people when hearing the first single, Limbo, didn’t connect it to us.”
As you mentioned, Avant Garde features the wonderful vocal talents of Fischerspooner’s Casey Spooner. What was that experience like working together?
JP: “I was thrilled that Casey came along. I’ve been a big fan of Fischerspooner since their debut, and he really adds a whole other layer to the track”
JH: “I’ve known Casey since the electroclash years, and we’ve been talking about working together for ages, and we’ve even recorded some stuff, although nothing has been released yet. He loved our first album, so when we were working on Afterlife I just asked if he’s like to a guest vocal and he did. Writing a duet for Casey and Juho was my personal highlight of making this record.”
Jori, your history speaks for itself. A huge musical pioneer who has worked with the likes of Tiga, Chris Lowe and John Foxx – how though does it feel when people describe you as “music’s best kept secret” and “the most underrated producer in the world”. Is that the way you’d prefer to keep it?!?!
JH: “I think the fact that I’ve never become really “big” has enabled me to work on many different things, and focus on DJing and studio work without having to deal too much with the darkside of music biz; lawyers, managers etc. I’ve seen a lot friends being somehow imprisoned by their success, where maintaining certain level requires a lot of compromises artistically, but also limits what you can do. Things easily come overcomplicated and calculated. I’m quite fortunate to be able to work on music full time with no real responsibility to anyone but the taxman. And this allows me to be experiment artistically, from pop to techno and beyond. Hence the 17 artist albums, and 100+ singles/remixes/productions…”
Let’s rewind for a moment and take you back to your childhoods. Have you both hailed from musical families, was music drifting around your households when you were growing up, what are some of your early musical memories?
JP: “My family wasn’t exactly super musical, but I did grow up hearing a lot of 80’s music via my brother and parents. Earliest memories were from Spain around 82-84, where we used to live for a while. I remember Thriller and Let’s Dance being all the rage back then.”
JH: “My parents loved to listen to music, although they didn’t play any instruments. We had radio on at our house almost 24/7. I have an older brother, and in the late 70’s he was really into Stary Cats, so naturally, I had to be too. Quite soon I started to develop a taste of my own, though, which always leaned to all things synthetic. Electronic pop and Italo-disco were my first loves.”
Were careers in music the only possibilities you had, or were other paths in your minds when you were studying?
JP: “I actually discovered music as a hobby very late, around 17-18 years old. Prior to that I was an art student, drawing being my strongest suit…I possibly would’ve chased a career in graphic design if music didn’t come along.”
JH: “There was a (low) point in my life in the 90’s where I had some academic ambitions and attended university for a few years. I was supposed to be a translator. But thankfully music took over. Slowly, but oh ever so surely.”
Finland is slowly but surely producing some great new artists, who are some of the people we should be looking out for next year?
JP: “Definitely Jaakko Eino Kalevi. I also recommend checking out “Cola and Jimmu”, although they’re (Jimi Tenor and Nicole Willis) not exactly new players in the scene.”
JH: “K-X-P and Circle continue to be live favorites.”
What is your favourite album of 2013?
JP: “Still unclear whether it was intended or not – but I’m gonna say Jai Paul’s leaked album. If only for “Jasmine”, which is one of my favourite tracks of this decade.”
JH: “Definitely “Pale Green Ghosts” by John Grant. Hard to see how anyone could top that in the next few weeks.”
So album number two under your belts, what have you in store for us in 2014?
JP: “Album number three, of course.”
JH: “And working on album number four, hopefully.”
And finally, be brave! What is your favourite track from the album and why?
JP: “Moonstruck, it takes me to another place, and I love the production on it.”
JH: “Right now, looking at the sun going down at 4pm, sitting in a train having a coffee, it’s Fair Rewards.”
https://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan
