POCKET ECHOS.014 Electronic Press Kit (ENG)

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Spyritual – Wall Of Peace (release 28.10.2025)

RELEASE INFO

Twenty years after the album Wall of Soul, Finnish group Spyritual returns to the scene. Their 2005 debut mixed layers of jazz, electronic music, and soulful vocals — and now, the band continues its journey even deeper. The sound of the new album builds a bridge between past and present: northern melancholy, warm organic tones, and electronic textures merge into an even richer palette of colors.

Perhaps the most astonishing fact, however, is that this album was actually recorded back in 2007 — and has been waiting in for 18 years before finally seeing the light of day. This temporal distance only adds to its allure. The compositions remain timeless, all written by Juha Tuukkanen in collaboration with various guest artists.

This time, the vocals are performed by Teea Aarnio, whose strong and nuanced voice brings new depth to Spyritual’s soundscapes — clear and fragile, at times bursting with power, yet always gracefully fluid and jazz-inflected. On the album Teea composed the vocal melodies and wrote the lyrics for the tracks Breathe and Vulnerability. Aarnio is a versatile musician, composer, and songwriter known for her trilingual debut album Väki and for her work with the avant-garde group Helsinki Soundpainting Ensemble.

In addition to Aarnio, the album features several other remarkable musicians whose contributions are integral to the sound of Spyritual. Antti Hynninen appears on several tracks playing flute and saxophones. His playing not only colors the music but also moves it forward — like a second narrative voice. Mikko Pettinen adds light and dynamic energy with his trumpet on You Confuse Me At Times. The drums are performed by Joonas Kaikko and Petri Kentala on different tracks.

A special mention goes to Lauri Jalonen, who delivers powerful rap verses on the track Thesis For Peace. His lyrics address themes of peace and humanity in a way that feels more relevant than ever. Jalonen’s presence brings a new, socially conscious layer to the record — a reminder that sensitivity and awareness can coexist hand in hand.

The album is mixed by Oona Kapari, whose meticulous work gives the release its final polish.

Wall of Peace is released exactly twenty years after Wall of Soul. This comeback album is far more than a nostalgic glance backward — it is music that has matured in two decades of silence.

Song descriptions

30 Blues (Juha Tuukkanen)
This piece was born during a time when I was reflecting on the direction of my life after turning thirty — almost twenty years ago now. Beneath it lies a sense of restlessness and confusion — that moment when youthful energy starts to fade and the future feels a bit undefined, even though, on the surface, everything seems fine. The music attempts to channel that contradictory feeling into a wistful yet hopeful soundscape that keeps moving steadily forward.

Vulnerability (Teea Aarnio)
Grey box houses, cities, colonized emotional landscapes and spiritual spaces, thousands of digital photos on mobile phones and industrialized interactions. Vulnerability appears, so that you can wake up and find your way back. In this song, the melodies, stems, and lyrics felt like they wrote themselves; the mood of the song was already so complete, already as an instrumental. I really enjoyed making this then years and years ago, and I still enjoy this so much. Timeless.

Oceanlands (Juha Tuukkanen)
The song began with a simple harmonium loop around which a light electronic rhythm took shape. While composing, I tried to reach for something vast and profound, but something still felt missing. When Antti Hynninen arrived at the studio to record his saxophones, he played exactly what was missing — and so much more. His playing opened the track in a completely new way, as if the sea had suddenly receded and revealed its true depth.

Breathe (Teea Aarnio)
When I wrote these lyrics, I had just moved to Helsinki to study jazz music. My weeks were filled with school, gigs, and other jobs. I worked as a vegetable seller in eastern Helsinki and took the morning metro to work as the sun rose; the vocal track began to take shape on my metro rides as I gazed at the sea, feeling the need for relief from weariness and self-criticism. Inhaling and exhaling, inner speech and the elements. “Give it time and you’ll bloom, they don’t know you like I do / Stay calm in your solitude, better times will soon find you.”

Stop Motion (Juha Tuukkanen)
This track was created during a period when my friend and I were doing a lot of experimental video art. We filmed dance on dark fields and projected the videos onto the walls of abandoned factories. I became especially interested in the stop motion technique — the idea of creating motion from separate, frozen fragments. That concept somehow found its way into the composition of the piece as well. Movement stops, continues, stops, continues.

Thesis For Peace (Juha Tuukkanen)
This piece came to life one evening when a group of familiar and unfamiliar musicians gathered in the studio to share a moment and create together. The sample-based backing track was given new life with Lauri Salokoski’s bass line, and Antti Hynninen had already recorded saxophones for the song earlier. Once the rhythmic foundation was ready, Lauri Jalonen wrote his lyrics and recorded them with intense focus. The decision to release the entire album now was partly sparked by the realization that the relevance and message of this track have remained powerful over time.

Spyritual BIO

Spyritual is a Finnish electronic music group known for its warm and organic sound, where acid jazz, downtempo, and soul influences blend together in a subtle and refined way. The band emerged in the mid-2000s with their album Wall of Soul (Kitty-Yo, 2005), with smooth rhythms, analog tones, and melodic sensitivity brought a sense of human depth to the electronic jazz sound of its time. Following the release, the group performed in Finland and Central Europe. A second album was planned for release in 2007 on the German label Kitty-Yo, but the label ceased operations before it could happen.

Spyritual’s music draws both from northern melancholy and the traditions of urban groove, creating atmospheres where the electronic and acoustic worlds meet. At the core of the group is composer and producer Juha Tuukkanen, whose work seamlessly fuses the improvisational spirit of jazz with the aesthetics of electronic music into a timeless and soulful whole. In recent years, Tuukkanen has worked as a composer and producer with other artists (a.m. Being, Moria) and released solo albums under the name Urhosson.