Hi,

I’m Liisa, living in the picturesque town of Newbury, Berkshire.

I’m currently working on my debut album with my idol, producer Ken Stringfellow (REM, The Posies). He’s helping me put these songs that have been haunting me for years into recorded form and you can already listen to a few of those on this website.

My grandparents bought me a piano when I was 5 because I was singing and improvising songs continuously. I started to take songwriting seriously since I was 11 and heard Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House. It made me realize how music can be so much more than just…music – it can be a spiritual experience.

And it certainly feels like a spiritual experience when I’m writing my songs. I prefer to use the word ‘channeling’. My aim is to try and capture the divinity of music whenever I’m writing, singing, playing and performing. It’s a high aim to try and do so consistently and I don’t claim to achieve it yet, but at least I know where I’m heading – or trying to!

I perform live via 2 keyboards and a loop pedal, singing and dancing, of course. – I’m the Spice Girls with self-pity! I formed my One-Woman Girl Band (with all the different sides to my personality as the band members) because I was sick of playing my music in the girl-and-a-piano format. I was unexpectedly blown away by Lady Gaga’s gig in Glastonbury 2009 and realized that I need to play live in a way that excites me (d’oh, I know…) As an additional benefit, as I dropped the traditional piano setup, the audience dropped the Tori Amos comparisons, which were plenty. I love Tori but I don’t want to be, and never was, a Tori copycat. People miscalculate that piano plus pussy equals Tori Amos…

I managed to play over 50 gigs in pubs since I moved into the UK from Helsinki in 2008. But I always wanted my songs to have full arrangements, a flute part there, a dance beat here, lots of synths doing different things…And the One-Woman Girl Band allows me to do just that. Well, I’m now very much looking forward to taking the Girl Band on the road again after a gratefully received enthusiastic audience response to my “South of England” tour at the end of 2009 – and the subsequent break in gigging because I had no money for petrol, putting it all in the making of the album when the genius of Ken Stringfellow came along as the producer.

Speaking of which, I always dreamt of Ken producing my album because I was (and am) a massive fan of his solo stuff, especially the album Soft Commands which is just (insert all the positive adjectives you can think of, especially those related to genius and honesty). And I felt there was a musical resemblance to how my songs needed to come alive; like pop symphonies. Art pop. Pop without boundaries. Some say it’s Kanye West but I say it’s Ken Stringfellow…and hopefully, with our collaboration, it will be me, too!