NEØV (nordic indie from Finland) + Nikita Curtis (Post-Punk from Leipzig)TBA

Name: NEØV (nordic indie from Finland) + Nikita Curtis (Post-Punk from Leipzig)TBA
Start: 2024-09-30T19:00:00+02:00
Location: Schokoladen

Schedule

Mon Sep 30 2024 at 07:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Schokoladen | Berlin, BE

Among many talented and promising acts emerging from Finland’s burgeoning indie scene recently, there has been one name that has embodied the sound of this new wave of Nordic indie more than any other – NEØV. On their new record “Soft Atlas” they embrace all the virtues and trademarks that made them become ambassadors of Finnish indie pop in recent years, adding yet another layer of northern magic, soaring melodies and wistful poetry.
Since their formation back in 2008, brothers Anssi and Samuli Neuvonen have been constantly exploring their expansive sound, releasing four enrapturing albums so far. “This constellation allows us to express our vision freely and stay true to what kind of music we believe in. No compromises are needed,” the brothers say of their partnership. Their steps were impressive since starting out in a small town called Juankoski in the middle of the vast Finnish Lakeland. They were playing more and more festivals, touring through half of Europe and getting more and more radio airplay. Then Covid hit. And brought the band to a painstakingly brutal halt. “It was a test for us,” Anssi remembers. “How much do we believe in ourselves? What kind of music do we want to create? Usually, there’s been some kind of outer pull for our next thing – a confirmed studio session or tour dates, something to keep us busy. But this time we had to face ourselves with empty calendars. And as a result, we wanted to make an album we’ve always dreamed of, in the way we’ve dreamed of.”
That being said, they teamed up with Birgir Jón Birgisson at legendary Sundlaugin studio in Iceland, fulfilling a lifelong dream of recording an album there. The result is a wonderful, bittersweet, achingly beautiful, soaring, floating work, instilled with a new aura of mystery, a texture of sorts that also permeates all of the Sigur Rós albums that came to life there. “We wouldn’t have gone to Iceland without the exhausting years of the early 2020s,” nods Samuli. “Without the pandemic we would’ve recorded the next album most likely somewhere in Germany, maybe in Berlin, and we would have toured as much as possible. But being stuck connected us to deeper dreams.” With seemingly endless amounts of time at their disposal, the brothers sought refuge in their private vinyl collections. “Over the years we’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from Icelandic artists,” Anssi notes. “Ever since we started writing our own music about fifteen years ago, I always dreamed of recording an album in Iceland someday, yet I forgot all about that when things around NEØV started to get going. Maybe we needed the complete reboot of early 2020s to think slower and dream bigger.”
But making “Soft Atlas” was not all about Iceland, they note: “We wanted to create our own kind of music in a new way and connect with creative people around the world. With this album, we decided to work with several mixing engineers, who all have distinctive style but are not too far from each other. We made one rule for that: we were allowed to contact only people whose work we’d been enjoying in our living rooms on vinyl.” So, in the end, Alex Somers mixed one song in Los Angeles, Birgir Jón Birgisson mixed two songs in Reykjavík, and Niklas Berglöf mixed six songs in Stockholm. “We recorded the instruments in Iceland with Birgisson, and Anssi did some recordings in his home studio in Kuopio, Finland.”
What came to life in Iceland is nothing short of a stunner. A record that effortlessly holds even highest international standards in arrangement, songwriting and production, a profoundly touching lesson in visceral emotion and a deep sense of longing. Dreamlike, yet deeply connected to the human condition, our ails, sorrows and longings. “Since our very first music releases, we’ve heard many people saying that we can compete with any indie artist out there when it comes to music,” Anssi says. “But we love being a small indie band from Finland. For me, slowness is a way to work, and busyness is a trap and a status symbol. We’re not doing music to get rich or famous, we’re doing this to stay true to our feelings and share them in our songs and concerts.” That, this profound, deep authenticity is what sets NEØV apart from most other bands out there.
And while it’s true that “Soft Atlas” could have been recorded practically anywhere in the world, it turned out the way it did due to the unparalleled, harsh beauty of Iceland. “Usually, it takes a lot of effort to be able to wake up inspired and work long hours with certain glow. At Sundlaugin,” Anssi says almost in disbelief, “that happened automatically. Recording at Sundlaugin felt different and new, yet somehow strangely familiar – maybe because we’ve drawn plenty of influences from music recorded there. The studio is highly aesthetic, and we used to stay there long hours after our recording sessions, testing all kinds of instruments and just enjoying the vibe.” An intense, inspired week of recording in March 2023 led the brothers to prolonging their stay because they didn’t want to leave this island. Iceland does that – even to people growing up in the sublime Finnish countryside. “I believe our music would sound different without this strong connection to nature and vast landscapes,” Anssi muses.
The ebb and flow of the album, the organic, meandering feel of it all, mirrors this. “I believe that by following our gut feeling, the songs will reveal themselves. But often that feeling is something that needs to be chased. When I go into our workspace to fool around with instruments, I do only what feels right. I’d rather take long siestas than try to force something,” Anssi laughs. On “Soft Atlas”, nothing is forced, everything is flowing freely, undisturbed, naturally, more like an undisturbed river in the Northern wilderness than a straightened river in an urban environment, pleading for more love and kindness in each and every song. “The world needs more flowers!” Anssi says of the album’s contents. “And maybe a new kind of atlas, a collection of soft or even invisible maps or a terrestrial globe, that could help us imagine how to live together in peace and appreciate each other more. The album is reflecting the world around us in the middle of these hard times that we’ve all been going through.” Musically, this echoes in a renewal of the raw, pristine NEØV sound, connected to all kinds of music the brothers have been listening to over the years, even making room for some brass, field recordings and western guitars.
Out of their biggest crisis, NEØV emerge with their strongest album yet – an impressive testimony of artistic skill and emotional bravado, a cascade of shimmering indie rock gems touched by Iceland’s graceful magic and the brothers’ inimitable talent for poignant songs. They deserve to be bigger, way bigger than that. But the most beautiful thing about it is that they are really happy right where they are.
Björn Springorum, March 2024