Introducing Verandan: Listen to ‘Gold in the Hills’

Soliti is thrilled to welcome Verandan to the label family.

Verandan is a new project by Ville Hopponen (some of you may know Ville from Cats on Fire and latterly The New Tigers). Aiding and abetting Ville on his new adventure are the magnificent players Aleksi Peltonen (Puunhalaaja) Aki Pohjankyrö (Black Twig, LOVE SPORT), Kaarlo Stauffer (Black Twig) and Sampo Seppänen (Sofa Pets, Kynnet). Verandan were formed in late 2015 around songs written by Hopponen.

‘Gold in the Hills’ is the first single from an EP to be released this coming Autumn.

You can also pick-up ‘Gold in the Hills’ now from the following outlets:

Spotify
iTunes
Deezer
Tidal
Amazon
Google Music

“It is a story about unspecific expectations of splendor that start to evaporate, and about trying to escape conventions while at the most raising a few eyebrows. Or as Bill Clinton said in the Simpsons“Just keep complaining until your dreams come true”.”

Songwriting credits on this song are by:
Music: Ville Hopponen
Lyrics: Ville Hopponen
Arrangement: Ville Hopponen, Aleksi Peltonen, Kaarlo Stauffer, Sampo Seppänen, Aki Pohjankyrö, Appu Jasu.
Production: Ville Hopponen, mixing: Pauli Laasonen, mastering: Philip Granqvist
Sleeve: Ville Hopponen/Onni Nieminen

Ville Hopponen expands on the origins of Verandan:

“At the time I had an office job that really made me want to focus on something else the rest of the time. Since I have played music since 1876 but never really written any songs myself it was a slow and meticulous process. The only aim was writing and recording some songs that I could hopefully tolerate even in the future. And also to do this with the best musicians I could find and whose judgement I fully trusted. They really pulled everything together and made it work, contributing all sorts of good ideas.

There was no particular musical style in mind. The point was to explore different ideas and themes – musical and otherwise – that for some reason kept appealing to me, while at the same time chasing a particular kind of elusive ”mood”. Sometimes what came out was surprisingly ”traditional”, which is fine too since it was never about being inventive just for the sake of it. It was more about conveying exactly the right feeling, whatever that is.”

Verandan play the Soliti Slaughterhouse happening on the 18th August, at Teurastamo Helsinki.

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​Promo pictures by Onni Nieminen