Tarja Turunen, the exceptionally gifted singer who rose to prominence as the voice and the face of Finnish outfit Nightwish, released of her new album, ‘My Winter Storm’, on November 19th.
With her unique tones and striking stage presence having played a key role in making Nightwish a major multi-platinum success, Tarja (now signed to Universal Music on an exclusive worldwide basis) is ideally placed to take her career to a whole new level, both in terms of musical ambition and personal profile; to this end, the 30-year-old – originally from the Finnish town of Kitee – has spent the past few months working on her first recordings beneath the ‘Tarja’ banner, making use of studios in Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and on the US West Coast.
Tarja’s debut single, ‘
I Walk Alone’ (inspired by Mozart’s celebrated ‘Requiem’), is already receiving an enthusiastic response from fans and media alike, with the accompanying video – directed by
Joern Heitmann – due to be unveiled shortly. Meanwhile, the final touches are being put to the album itself: a genuine labour of love overseen by Daniel Presley, producer of Faith No More, Jewel and The Breeders (and relative of The King!), and featuring the talents of a truly stellar line-up of musicians. That’s Doug Wimbish on bass (Living Colour, Annie Lennox, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Madonna, Rolling Stones), Alex Scholpp on electric & acoustic guitars (Farmer Boys) and Earl Harvin on drums (Seal, Pet Shop Boys, Air), a player personally selected by Tarja after she saw him stealing the show at a Seal concert. Keyboards & programming, meanwhile, are provided by Torsten Stenzel, whose previous credits include Nelly Furtado, Moby, Tina Turner, Vanessa Mae and more.
Throughout her career, Tarja has managed to achieve that most difficult of tasks – seamlessly joining worlds that, at first glance, would appear to be poles apart; in this case, Metal & Opera. Could these two ever really stand shoulder to shoulder without one diluting the other? Well… not only did the soprano singer drive herself to achieve the perfect balance, with hits such as ‘Nemo’ storming the international charts, but in doing so she helped to create a style that is currently exerting a huge influence on the Rock & Metal scene in general.
And now there’s ‘My Winter Storm’, an outing that sees Tarja adding an extra dimension to her already expansive approach, using movie soundtracks rather than traditional rock recordings as a measure against which the atmosphere and depth of the final recordings should be judged…
“I absolutely love film scores,” stresses the singer. “I wanted – no, I needed to have the emotional weight and the dense feeling of the soundtrack on this album.”
Happily, her reputation and skills were able to fling open the appropriate doors. When it comes to the world of the movie soundtrack, there really isn’t a bigger (or a better) name than Hans Zimmer, a man whose credits include such international blockbusters as ‘Gladiator’, ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ & ‘Black Hawk Down’, and once Zimmer had welcomed the project into his famed Remote Control Studios in Los Angeles, it was very much a case of all systems go. Arranger and composer James ‘Jim’ Dooley handled the choral and orchestral recordings, while Slamm Andrews – fresh from working on The Simpsons movie – took charge of the mix, all of which made it possible for the potential of the recordings to be brought to fruition in full. No compromise. No constraint.
"I Walk Alone" single is available for streaming at this location.
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