EFTER SOL - an album

Solo album released by Rockadillo Records, 7 March 2025

The album's theme and inspiration were the sounds of the sun, which NASA has created from the data it has collected on the movement of the sun through sonification. For me, it acted as a reminder of the movement and change of all living things, as well as a timeline longer than humans – the wonder of what might be left behind when we leave.

The album's starting point and its first materials were born from the beginning moments of Tero Saarinen Company's Transit choreography in 2019. The artist duo IC-98's first attempt at the piece was a short animation that brought to mind a black sun. Based on the image, I began composing various electronic sound worlds for the performance.

Soon after I composed music for Johanna Nuutinen's Hz piece, choreographed for TSC, specifically about the origins of underwater noise, but on the other hand, the same sound, transcending the scale of man, still remained in the material and in my mind. Some of the songs also ended up on the album as reconstructed parts from these blanks. Having composed exclusively electronic blanks for the works, I felt the need to bring human sound alongside the electronics. I asked the Akademiska Damkören Lyra choir, with the help of conductor Jutta Seppinen, and the violinist Eriikka Maalismaa to join the pieces. The human voices of the choir and Maalismaa’s delicate voice on the violin brought a human layer to the pieces, a touch that would have been impossible to achieve otherwise.

In order to reflect on the pieces as just audible music and sound, without the thematic framework of a stage work and the spatial sound, I asked for comments from a few artists I respect: composer-musicians Kimmo Pohjonen and Tapani Rinne, and researcher, critic, curator Mika Hannula. Thank you very much to them, without their comments I would not have been able to continue and complete the process.

Many thanks also to Carita Weissenfelt for all the comments and belief in the process over the years.

Thank you Tero Saarinen for the personal discussions about worldviews and the opportunities of TSC Studio to create sound and music.

Thank you Pauli Saastamoinen for opening up the tones of my sound, Oscar Zepeda Arias for the trust, Hildá Länsman for the liberating duo, Tapio Korjus/ Rockadillo for publishing this album, Alice Jektevik for moving images and Taike for supporting my music making.

Without all of your support, I would not have dared and been able to continue my own musical journey.

The album is dedicated to Eriikka Maalismaa.

In March 2025,

Tuomas