I know that my way of writing about the spiritual entity of the songs could be a puzzling concept for a lot of people. I mean, could it be real and honest if I kept on saying that I have to move out of the equation? It doesn’t make any sense at all… You are right, it doesn’t when we take that all lightly. When I’m referring to letting the songs define their own entities, it means more of “it” and less self-doubt, as when I let myself slip into any of those worries regarding authenticity and integrity, I tend to retreat to a state of control, where “safe” will take place and well-known traveled roads would be walked into once again, prevailing me from any potential happy accident, or any new wonder findings. It becomes security over danger. I believe that it’s only through the exploration of what seems to be the most frightening and dangerous areas of the mind that we can access the unconsciousness that can ultimately unlock our spirit to the invisible world we long for. And once you do, there’s no map to hold on to. That’s the sacred place I’m often referring to… See, it all makes sense, right!?!

That’s why I like to revisit songs after a while, and in that case, the ones we recorded when Mikko first arrived. It’s not easy for someone outside looking in to fully understand what the heck I’m talking about at first, or at all, so forget about even trying to capture that sort of elusive essence on the day following your arrival… it’s impossible… or should I say quite a challenge. No, I’ll assume it, it’s barely possible. Therefore, to keep on digging is essential to the process for me. It’s not to make it good or even better, it’s about making sure that I haven’t missed anything during the initial phase of exploration. It could be something that would change the song’s entire entity; a fragment of shades that could inspire the main colors, a detail that becomes a key component of the song’s nature, a flash that could offer a deeper purpose to the whole record… Again, the only way to find out is to keep on diving in. It’s literally like being an old-school ocean diver; you’ve got a short amount of oxygen, several decompression plateaus, and the immensity to swim into. You might be lucky once or twice and find the treasure on the first dive. But that‘s not exploration, is it? So you better muster up your Jacques Cousteau courage and determination, because it’s a lifelong commitment to relentlessly do it over and over and over again… especially knowing you might only discover the fact that what you found is not what you were looking for, or even more difficult to deal with, that it’s not there at all. So you do it again and again and again… until you realize that it’s you who’s going through a transformation with every dive in and out, which makes every dive more exciting to go for…