Tarja Turunen can remember the first time she set foot on Antigua. It was 2007, and a “chaotic” period in the Finnish soprano’s life: two years after her very public, acrimonious split from symphonic giants Nightwish, the band with whom she made her name, and one year after the launch of her solo career. What she needed, more than anything, was anonymity. Immediately, she fell in love with the beautiful scenery, easy-going way of life and the overwhelming sense of seclusion.
“You will find a beach where you will be alone the whole day. It’s so chilled and so positive,” she says over Zoom from her current home in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, the memory of her first visit to the Caribbean still vivid 16 years on. “It was like, ‘Wow. I love this. I can be no one here.’”
By the end of the holiday, she and her husband-manager, Marcelo Cabuli, had bought a holiday house facing out over Antigua’s turquoise sea and forest-covered mountains. Since then, it’s been her second home and her happy place, as well as the source of inspiration for her long-awaited, all-star project, Outlanders. An album of the same name, which was mostly written and mixed on the island over the last 10-plus years, was released in June 2023 and is unlike anything we’ve heard from Tarja before.
Working with her long-term friend and Tubular Beats collaborator, EDM DJ Torsten Stenzel, it sees her pair her soaring, operatic vocals with the sort of pulsating, blissful ambient, proggy electronica you’d hear in a beachside bar. The album’s guitars come courtesy of some of modern prog’s most influential players, with Mike Oldfield, Trevor
This story is from the Issue 146 edition of Prog.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 146 edition of Prog.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
JAKKO M JAKSZYK
King Crimson's vocalist and guitarist shares anecdotes from his revealing new autobiography, discusses his lost career as a footballer and reveals what he said when he met the former king of pop.
A Part & Yet Apart
Sheffield-based 80s proggers Haze have returned with a new studio album, The Water's Edge - their third since their 2013 comeback record, The Last Battle. Prog catches up with threequarters of the band to discuss Haze's DIY ethos, the curse of prog and playing to Cumbrian sheep farmers.
CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
He's about to embark on Dream Theater's 40th Anniversary Tour, but keyboard maestro Jordan Rudess has taken time out to discuss his soaring new solo album, Permission To Fly.
On The Wing
Birds, break-ups, big choruses and the Charlie Chaplin effect can all be found on In Murmuration, the ninth album from Finland's Von Hertzen Brothers. But as they embrace their power pop influences, have the Finns cast off their prog wizard cloaks once and for all? Mikko von Hertzen talks about the Seattle influence, songwriting secrets and sax solos.
Fourth Dimension
The stock of melodic Northumberland-based proggers Stuckfish has been rising since they formed six years ago. Their fourth studio album, Stuckfish IV, represents an important watershed in the band's musical evolution. Co-founders Adrian Fisher and Phil Stuckey tell Prog about the diverse influences that have helped to shape it.
Symphly The Best
In the 70s, Barclay James Harvest almost bankrupted themselves by performing with an orchestra, but, several decades on, they’re celebrating last year’s performance with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, captured on their latest live record, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert. John Lees reminisces over the band’s ambitious early years and bassist Craig Fletcher fills Prog in on JLBJH’s upcoming “progtastic” double album.
We've Not Been Expecting You
The unpredictable Frost* are back with Life In The Wires, a bold double concept album that revisits the mood of Milliontown. Bandleader Jem Godfrey tells Prog why he rolled out the solos on a record he describes as the most fun since their dazzling debut.
FAR HORIZONS AND PANORAMIC AMBITIONS
Dutch five-piece Lesoir have been steadily gathering momentum over the last 15 years, and they hope to build on that with their latest release, Push Back The Horizon. Vocalist/ instrumentalist Maartje Meessen and guitarist Ingo Dassen discuss the creation of their sixth album, working with Muse's production team, and their dream of bringing their intricate music to new audiences.
'I mean, what is classical nowadays?'
Tony Banks reflects on his role as a 21st-century classical composer.
There Can Be Only One!
Never meet your heroes, or so the saying goes, but Opeth have had a blast working with Ian Anderson on their latest, The Last Will And Testament. Bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson discuss the band's proggiest album to date, the return of the growl and why blood isn't always thicker than water.
