Rotko by Timi Tamminen

• rotko •

One central element of my artistry is the constant exploration of contrasting ideas: I’m constantly bouncing between the urge to create catchy, light pop and the urge to fearlessly explore new musical dimensions or to reinvent old ones. This limitless approach to creation is what defines my artistry, the constant need to bridge these two extremes.

Rotko is a project I started sometime in (late) 2021-2022 while living in London, I had a burning passion to create something which reflected where I’m from while approaching it in a futuristic way, my nordic and slavic folk influence meeting with modern production and sampling techniques. The album ended up becoming a quirky, bilingual journey with a lot of twists and turns… Sometimes dark, sometimes funny, full of acoustic elements and accordion sounds, the vibe of a remote village gaining access to modern samplers and production software for the first time. I love bilingual writing because it allows me to be very versatile, I have distinctly different creative voices in Finnish and English and exploring them is a lot of fun.

I’m very much a forward-thinking person rooted in the present, full of appreciation for progress and modernity, but I do get a little sad seeing the anglocentric internet monoculture’s tendency to dominate and erase smaller, older cultures. This realisation has recently energised me with the urge to re-introduce and modernise older north European and Finnish cultural elements and tradition (something that frankly doesn’t get enough love right now) while also preserving my modern pop approach and bilingualness. Rotko is sort of a stepping stone into that world, something I aim to explore more in the future… I call it progressive nationalism, strongly promoting and platforming one’s own cultural elements but in a healthy, inclusive way without the toxic sense of false superiority but rather a love for collective self-exploration! Expect a lot more contrast and cultural bridging from my art in the future, so to speak. 😇

The Eurosoul headquarters - for fans of fearless artistry, strong singing & endless musical versatility

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