The chances are that you if you’re aware of Erja Lyytinen, you consider her a blues artist in
the most familiar sense.
It’s a perfectly excusable assumption. The petite bottleneck guitarist
has spent 15 years involved in a gradual but steady ascent of the ladder of the European
blues market, her most recent studio record, 2014’s ‘The Sky Is Crying’ being an homage to
a childhood hero, the late Elmore James.
Since then the lady that the Blues magazine refers to as “the Finnish slide goddess”
has given birth to twins, undergone changes in her personal and professional lives and
emerged with a fresh, re-energised attitude.
Seven albums into her career ‘Stolen Hearts’ reveals a new facet of Lyytinen’s artistic
persona. In the past she has integrated elements of both hard rock and pop into her music.
This time out, encouraged by her producer, Erja now flings the doors wide open to express
what she describes as: “heartbreak, frustration, disappointment, fear of loss and yet, at the
same time, the deepest love.”
With the exception of long-standing guitarist Davide Floreno, Lyytinen worked with
a new group of musicians in Helsinki during the summer of 2016 and then proceeded to
step even further outside of her comfort zone when multi-platinum selling engineer and
producer Chris Kimsey agreed to participate in the sessions. Kimsey is best known for
having worked on many of the biggest selling albums by The Rolling Stones but his CV also
includes the likes of Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton, Marillion, The Quireboys and The Psychedelic Furs among many others.
Lytinen was thrilled to fly to London to record her
lead vocal tracks and then sit back and watch as the Englishman mixed the results at a studio
called The State Of The Ark, equipped with a desk once owned by EMI. In fact, ‘Stolen
Hearts’ was mixed on said console – the same one that Kimsey had often used with the
Stones. “Chris said that it was like meeting an old girlfriend after many years,” recalls Erja.
“He sat in front of the desk and his magic started to happen.”
Of course it would be misleading and foolish to describe ‘Stolen Hearts’ as a complete
reinvention for Erja Lyytinen. The self-descriptively named ‘Slowly Burning’ is a languid,
melodic slice of fruity blues-rock.
However, its hook-laden and decided funky title cut is something different altogether,
and it’s easy to appreciate why Kimsey fell in love with ‘Black Ocean’, a cool slice of 1970s-
influences rock built upon a strident, sassy riff and garnished with one of Lyytinen’s finest
guitar solos to date. And let’s not forget closing number Broken Eyes, noteworthy for its
stripped-back feel and a formidable, emotional vocal display. “I felt that I had the
ingredients to make something extraordinary and different,” says the little lady. And you
know what? She was right.
So you think you know it all about Erja Lyytinen?
Think again.
Sept 20 UK Sheffield The Greystones
Sept 21 UK Edinburgh The Caves
Sept 22 UK Nottingham Bodega
Sept 23 UK Chester The Live Rooms
Sept 24 UK Manchester Band On The Wall
Sept 25 UK London Borderline
Sept 26 UK Bristol The Tunnels
Tracklist
01 Stolen Hearts 04:42
02 Rocking Chair 03:50
03 Love Laboratory 04:15
04 24 Angels 03:57
05 Black Ocean 07:15
06 Slowly Burning 04:14
07 Lover’s Novels 03:32
08 Silver Stones 04:44
09 Awakening 04:01
10 City Of Angels 05:22
11 Broken Eyes 04:55
Tuohi Records: THC-006
Barcode: 6417138644916
Release Date: 07 April 2017
