It sounds like a keynote speech at an annual CEO conference but is in fact a new single from Finland’s Stinako and ‘Visions of Future’ is also the title track from a forthcoming LP out on 30th October.
There are artists I always look forward to their releasing of new work and Stinako (Stina Koistinen) is definitely one of them. She’s one of the most inventive musicians in the whole of Europe never mind Finland and just about every new song is a delight.
I also just realised that she hasn’t featured in these pages since the end of December 2024 and that is simply too long.
What Stinako does better than most artists is to bare her soul to her audience.
And here she’s at it again as she once more faces up alone to the uncertainties of life that have plagued her and the experience of adversity. Well, not quite.
She says, “at some point, I realised I couldn’t manage the burden on my own and sought help — and that is what the song is about. The burden remains, but it is lighter to carry. This song is forward-looking — a utopian believer in a better life and a better world—resounding with sincere hope”.
And that pretty well sums Stina up. She pours ice cubes down the vest of misfortune, to paraphrase one of the UK’s most famous comic characters, Edmund Blackadder.
The song can be compartmentalised roughly into two equal parts, the first of which is based on brass and woodwind instruments with an underlying drumbeat which collectively remind me of the outro to the Dane Gurli Octavia’s marvellous ‘X-Ray’.
Stinakohas previously built songs around contrasting moods and emotions.If there’s a dystopian element to this one I guess this is it but even then she still has “visions of a future that is brighter than today”.
Then it transforms dramatically musically as she looks to the future rather than the past into what could be a separate song entirely, a heavier rock sound, punctuated by a recurring electronic motif that gets under your skin, before it erupts into something that might have slotted nicely into The Beatles’ ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ as performed by The Polyphonic Spree.
This is full-on, in your face Stinako and she knows how to ratchet a ballad up into a full blown anthem as she has done previously with ballads and soft pop/rock songs like ‘Pelasta Mut’ and ‘Ave Maria’.
Those ice cubes have transformed into a torrent, a veritable tsunami that is guaranteed to wash that angst into the Baltic Sea.
And there’s a cornucopia of instrumentation and vocalisation on the track, including a contribution from the ‘mini big band’ Njet Njet 9 and the Sibelius High School Girl’s Choir. The country’s greatest composer would have been proud.
And they’ll be on the album, too.
I only wish she could take them on tour with her.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
We are advised that the album “paints a picture of a world where people choose kindness and respect: for the planet, for other species, and for one another. It is a musical statement and an invitation to imagine what might be possible if empathy and responsibility guided our choices.”
I hear that sort of sentiment coming so often out of Finland through its music.
For the lucky folk in Finland Stinako has several gigs coming up in September, October and November, the last of which is the album release party. See website or social media for details.
Njet Njet 9 are –
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Tomi Nikku
Alto Saxophone – Ilmari Rönkä
Tenor Saxophone – Pekka Seppänen
Baritone Saxophone – Oona Mattsson
Trombone – Mikko Haanpää
Synthesizers – Ville Kyttälä
Electric Guitar – Veikki Virkajärvi
Electric Bass – Heikki Laine
Drums – Erik Fräki
Find Stinako on:
Website: https://www.stinakoistinen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stinakomusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stinak0/
