Something is stirring in the Afenginn universe. Movements is our eighth album and the first in a carefully constructed trilogy - a long-form musical work composed in interwoven movements, designed with the vinyl format in mind, and made to set your internal dancer free. There will be molecular rearrangements. There will be grit, elegance, and occasional chaos. And yes, the 70’s Finnish disko boy in me is very excited.
The production of the album is going full throttle and will hit the streets later this year. Heðin Ziska Davidsen (left on the picture) is producing it and yours truly (right) is also in there messing things up. The title Movements might still change, if fate interferes, but for now it feels just right. It captures the essence of the project - in form, content, and intention.
I’d like to dive deeper into all of this over the coming months. There are a bunch of thoughts to unravel, and I want to share more about the process and ideas behind this work as it unfolds. But for now, let’s start with the basics.
The fundamental idea behind Movements was to compose music as a sequence of interconnected movements - like in the classical form (as we’ve also done on previous albums) - with two main intentions:
- To give the body impulses to move.
Not necessarily in a traditional folk-dancy way, or in the full-on dancefloor push like Daft Punk. But more like a subtle, internal nudge bringing one’s own little private dancer out of the woodwork. A music that moves you, basically. Even if it’s just enough to make you tap your toes while standing arms-crossed in a corner. Or levitate with the grace of a holistic finger-dance. Or rearrange all your cellular molecules into a quantum mechanical protone-shake in a hysterical samba. Or go full ape in a cyberpunk moshpit. Or air out your 70’s Finnish disko moves.
(Being a 70’s Finnish disko boy myself, these killer moves are particularly close to my heart.)
Anyway - the external expression comes in many forms, and it’s aaaaall goooood. The intention is simply to let some flow out, in whichever form it arrives.
2. To shape the whole shebang as a well-crafted piece of music.
And not just a collection of tracks, but something with thematic and dynamic arcs, multiple layers, recurring motifs and progressions. With lush instrumentation and detailed production. With electronics and acoustic instruments living in the same ecosystem - almost like a modern living organism, actually. With depth and grit, and an inner pulse that drives the music forward.
Sounds ambitious? You bet it is.
This first album is just the beginning, though. Movements (1) is the opening part of a larger trilogy - a long-form work that will unfold across three separate releases. Each one will stand on its own, but together they form a continuous sequence. A single musical odyssey, split into three chapters. In some ways, it’s a bit like Lord of the Rings - and also not at ALL.
And yes - it’s written with the vinyl format in mind. Each movement has been composed to fit within the physical and actually rather poetic constraints of an LP, with Side A and Side B forming natural arcs of their own. It’s a structure that really resonates with me, and it’s also proven to be a beautifully useful frame to work within.
So there!
More soon. For now, I just wanted to say: it’s coming, babes, it’s coming!
And I’m excited! Let’s gooooo!
Below is a 1 minute snapshot of the work in progress…: