OUTLANDERS ARE INCOMING!
Tarja Turunen on her star-studded new project that’s been 11 years in the making.
Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen has announced details of Outlanders, the new, slow-burn project she’s been working on over the past decade with German electronic music producer, Torsten Stenzel.
“It’s something quite different to anything that I’ve done in my career so far,” the singer tells Prog. “The album includes a long list of progressive guitar players who I’m really happy to have involved. I wouldn’t call it a progressive record, but it’s definitely progressive in spirit. It’s very relaxed music, meant to give you good vibes.”
Stenzel co-produced Mike Oldfield’s 2013 remix album
Tubular Beats, and Oldfield is just one of the elite musicians contributing to the project, along with Steve Rothery, Al Di Meola, Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman and Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal (Sons Of Apollo). Trevor Rabin guests on lead single
Closer To The Sky, set for release on November 26. It’s the first taste of Outlanders’ music, which was recorded and mixed principally on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
“This pandemic kind of gave us the opportunity to really concentrate on it and finally finish it,” she says. “I use my voice as a soloist in some songs, but as an instrument in others, creating pictures, moods and emotions. But it’s the guitar players who make the whole project shine. I knew their work and I’m a fan of their playing, and in the case of Trevor [Rabin], I didn’t have anyone else in mind for that song. They all brought their sound, spirit and soul into the songs. Even though I’ve been writing the majority of them myself you can still immediately say, ‘Oh, this is Joe Satriani’, or, ‘This is Marty Friedman’ when you hear them.”
Closer To The Sky is the first in a series of eight singles planned over the next 18 months in the run-up to the album’s eventual release in 2023. With the record having had such a long gestation, Tarja is overjoyed that Outlanders will finally be heard.
“During the process,” she adds, “Torsten’s computer crashed at least three times. But every time I’d re-record my vocals I’d sing them better, which gave us a really good feeling. And we really pushed it hard with this project. It’s such a fulfilling feeling to know that it will finally see the light of day. I have also been thinking it would be lovely to doing do this live. Finding a guitar player who can play all these parts is a nice logistical nightmare to have, so let’s see.” POW
“It’s very relaxed music, meant to give you good vibes.”