”low-key prolific”
25.02.2026 09:46
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I recorded it at my parents summer cabin around midsummer.
Thanks to everyone who has been going back and listening to these songs with me ❤️
Who knows how deep we have to dig before we re-emerge from under the rubble. Musically the song was mostly inspired by Scott Walker and Isao Tomita’s version of Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloe.
The bulk of the material in this project still resides on Bandcamp only - including The Awkward Handshake, which I wrote as a sort of goodbye to the pandemic era. Of course the pandemic era kept returning for the next couple of years and sadly we are still dealing with the aftermath.
I released it together as a Bandcamp only bonus track to the Quarantine music EP - a collection of 5 favourite songs that I released in a more ”official” way so you can listen to them on all the streaming services.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
25: The Awkward Handshake (bonus track)
Rel. 22nd June 2020
tuomo.bandcamp.com/album/quaran...
This was the last song of the Quarantine Music series (not counting the couple of tracks that were left unfinished and unreleased but might still see daylight some day).
This is a song that I'm really happy with and love to play live. Check it out at the 25 minute mark (features my most epic synth solo)
The lockdowns were over and summer was upon us, it felt like we were moving on from the whole situation. Of course we'd be back in isolation a few months later, but summer 2020 was a blissful break. I was writing songs about "regular things" for a change.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
24: Don't hide your heart
(Rel. June 5th 2020)
The lyrics of this song have nothing to do with the pandemic and in a way that tells a lot about the pandemic situation in that moment.
The first wave of Covid was still happening, but it started slowing down. The initial pandemic shock had given way to exhaustion and this song was an expression of that.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
23: The New Normal
(rel. May 22nd 2020)
This was the last release of the main streak of the Quarantine Music project - there were a couple more songs in the pipeline, but they had to wait a couple of months.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
22: Lockdown party (w/ Tapio Backlund & HEINI IKONEN)
(rel. May 16th 2020)
I wanted to make a a P-Funk party track but it morphed into a house/eurodance track. Heini and Tapio both killing it as per usual.
It's from his 1995 album Conversation Peace, I tried to imagine what it would have sounded like if he'd recorded it in the 70s.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
21: Taboo to love
(rel. May 14th 2020)
Happy birthday Stevie Wonder! I recorded this cover version of his stunning 'Taboo to love' for his 70th 5 years ago.
The mood took me back to the early days of our band Quintessence, so I just had to have Emma sing on it - turned out perfect.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
20 : See you on the other side w/ Emma Salokoski & Petteri Sariola
(Released Apr 30th 2020)
Cousin Petteri sent me a folksy guitar riff that somehow transformed into this late 90s 4heroesque jazzy dnb track.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
19 : Just another saturday
(released Apr 24th 2020)
This is my biggest "guilty pleasure" track from the project. I love making bass-heavy electronic beats for fun, even though I'm not really a club goer. I'd love to hear this from a proper sound system one day.
...you realize that spring is actually here and that feeling was amplified manyfold that year. It was still peak pandemic times and the anxiety returned pretty quickly, but there was that little moment there that felt okay.
Aarne played some awesome percussion tracks for this one.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
18 : Did you forget to be afraid today? w/Aarne Riikonen
(rel. Apr 20 2020)
I remember walking to my studio one morning, feeling the sun on my face - there's this certain feeling when, after a long winter...
Google the term - you will mostly find links to articles from the covid era. After the pandemic... pretty quiet - which is kind of the point of the song.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
17 : Invisible
(released Apr 16th 2020)
This is one of the best songs I wrote for the Quarantine Music project. I still like to play it live. It's about "essential workers" and the respect they deserve but rarely get.
P.S. Shout out to Good Life Coffee Roasters for taking home the prizes for best Finnish coffee last weekend!
…join in - naturally he nailed it. While the track started as a kind of joke, I did spend a lot of time tweaking minor production details and especially finding the right vibe for my vocals - that’s why I think it works.
…with comedic elements in my music. But it was covid times and I’d decided to do whatever I felt like and this thing popped up so I just had fun with it. I wrote a topical second verse and asked fellow coffee enthusiast Tommy Lindgren aka Father Metro from Don Johnson Big Band to…
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
16: Cute Baristas w/Tommy Lindgren
(rel. Apr 14th 2020)
This was a banger. I’d had this silly rap verse & hook about my coffee habit lying around for years and I thought I’d probably never use it for anything, since a) I am not a rapper and b) I’m often a bit stingy…
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
15 : Omnipresent (w/ Lauri Porra, Jarmo Saari, Eero Johannes)
(Rel Apr 9th 2020)
This was one of the more experimental tracks in the lot. I think I was going for an ”Aphex Twin doing Minneapolis Funk”-vibe or something. Wonderful contributions from the featured musicians.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
14 : Monday afternoon
(Released Apr 6th 2020)
Here’s another song that I included on the EP and has also become one I love to play live.
I was getting more listens and people supporting on bandcamp too and even the Finnish music press had started noticing. Out of the next 6 songs I released, 5 ended up on the compilation EP(linked). This song still stands out to me. Jarmo Saari plays a gorgeous guitar solo in the end.
#QuarantineMusicThrowback
13 : Antibody (w/Jarmo Saari)
(released 4.4.2020)
We're getting into what I think was the creative peak of the Quarantine music project. 3 weeks and 13 songs deep, I was taking it a bit more seriously but still having a lot of fun with it.
Jutta Rahmel recorded some beatifully moody improvisations on her kantele for me. I found the bits I liked the best and built a beat around them. My old friend Heidi sent me a poem and I asked her to record it. I wrote and sang some extra lyrics.