We Catch Up With Finnish indie artist SÄTILÄ for the release of 'ISLAND' | We talk Inspiration & Development
Sätilä is a Finnish artist, songwriter and producer combining indie/alternative music with pop sensibilities. We catch up with him following the release of a synth and electronic music leaning EP ‘On The Verge of Something ’ Interview last September, Sätilä is shifting gears and embracing the music of his youth. You can hear his influences of The Killers, Mew and Disco Ensemble in this energetic and anthemic belter. Lyrically inspired by climate change and feeling inept in fighting it, it's about the realisation of how we're all connected and in it together. The song started as a band jam after seeing Danish alt-rock band Mew live at Tavastia Club in Helsinki in November 2014 but the demo was left on his hard drive for years.
What inspired the development of this song?
It wasn’t until four-five years later when I was living in London and experiencing freedom from narrow ideas of what I could do genre-wise that I dug up the demo and finished the song and wrote the lyrics”, I wanted to embrace the alternative rock music I listened to in my youth. There’s been a lot of talk about the death of rock and guitar music but during my time in London, it became clear to me that it’s not completely gone and people are still excited about those genres. They’re just not in the centre of popular culture like they used to. And it’s still music that moves me and takes me back on my musical journey to a very defining age.
I love the energy of this song and can picture playing it on a festival stage and the crowd singing it back. Inspired by climate change the lyrics talk about how difficult big challenges and changes can feel and how we are all connected and need to work together.
Change is inconvenient and hard. You have to have the humility to say “I was wrong” or “I’m not perfect” and be open to re-learn and progress. I think it’s good to think about what we are leaving behind. What kind of culture are we building around us? We have to allow people to choose change without shaming and cancelling each other. You never know how much the way you lead your life may impact someone else.
Could you tell us what have you been up to since your interview with X-RAY last year?
Because of restrictions, playing live in a physical venue wasn’t possible so we filmed a performance in a studio and live-streamed it early November. Clips from the show can be found here. Other than that, I’ve been making new music in the quiet and calm.
Plans and goals for 2021?
I’m going to be releasing a lot of new music this year. The plan is to release music every five weeks so that’s keeping me busy. I’m hoping live music comes back this year and we could play a few gigs as well. Quite hard to plan that at the moment but the Summer and Autumn look positive here in Finland.
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