The single arrives via Soliti on the 28th April
Last month, we announced Juppe joining the Soliti label with the wonderfully precise pop machinations of debut single “Fade” – now, Juppe brings us a sublime piece of dislocated ‘funk’ in the form of “Happiest Country In The World“. We’re guessing there’s a sense of irony here – just this week, Finland claimed the title for the 6th year running.
“Defenestrating all reason, Please fornicate with the void” Juppe almost croons over Aapo Soulanto’s cut-up sax attack and the stilted groove. “Aapo came up with the dirtiest sax riff known to man. I sampled it and made the beat. The lyrics were written a couple of years ago, but are unfortunately more topical than ever.“ Juppe tells us.
The video for “Happiest Country In The World“ is made by director Patrik Sundberg, who comments: “”It was important for the video to let Julius’s presence have the room to go wild in front of the camera. We wanted to create a visually coarse and absurd mood that delved into the world of the song”
Juppe comments on the video “”We wanted something very Finnish in the video, so we came up with the ultimate local specialty: the log cabin.”
Listen to Happiest Country in the World
Lyrics: Juppe
Composers: Juppe , Aapo Soulanto
Vocals, and production: Juppe
Saxophone: Aapo Soulanto
Recorded & mixed by Juppe
Mastered at Holistic Audio Mastering
Video Credits:
Production Company: Puisto
Director: Patrik Sundberg
DOP: Arttu Liimatta
Producer: Michel Saukkonen
Special thanks: Angel Films, Pinja Forsman, Nestori Majoinen, Terjo Aaltonen, Petrus Koskinen
Initial Reaction
“A mixture of deconstructed funk, post punk, and… of… an insolent happiness that explodes in our face, the Finnish musician Juppe, accompanied by a demented prod and a sax that slips through the interstices reminds us that life is good in Finland with his latest title “Happiest Country In The World”!” Djolo
“listen here to one of the year’s best songs by a Finnish artist” Rumba
Juppe by Simo Pukkinen, @simopukkinen.vga on Instagram.
Some words about “Fade”
“…wait until the back half spins this distorted noise-skronk stomp; there’s no boundaries in the band’s songwriting, which is something that means a lot to me these days. It’s a tune that works playfully, then fades with bombast, so interested to hear where the project goes from here.” Austin Town Hall
“”Fade” just makes our day! It sounds like it sprang out of the funk scenes of Philadelphia or Detroit in the late ’60s or early ’70s.” WYMA
“A small touch of soulful keyboards is the right amount of soul, but still the song is a beauty that most clearly belongs to the pop rock canon. Swings and swings, and the rockier cycle at the end is guaranteed not to leave you cold with its sound barrage” Decibeli.net
“Juppe mixes organic and representative sounds of specific decades, with hints of a 70s band and also the colours of 90s indie electronica and sardonic lyrics.” freim.tv
“Addictive riffs, unexpectedly moving melodies, and kaleidoscopic arrangements. It’s so cool and funny.” Niche