20th October 2019

Exclusive Interview: Jaakko Yli-Sorvari from Dimman on “152”!

Earlier this week we had the pleasure of reviewing “152”, the sophomore EP from Dimman that saw them add female vocals from new member Jenna Kohtala to their Melodic Death Metal sound. After the review we were lucky enough to speak to Guitarist and song writer Jaakko Yli-Sorvari about the bands work…

How did the addition of Jenna Kohtala come about? Were you looking to add something to your sound as a whole or was it originally more of a guest idea?

Yes, first the idea was just to have some female vocals as a guest thing for one of the songs. However, the collaboration seemed to work so well that we quickly started to think what if Jenna would become more than just a guest singer. After she did few gigs with us and the mutual chemistry felt great it was quite obvious that we had a new member in the band.

Instrumental “The History” is one we described as “a piece of cinematic art”. So if you had the opportunity to write for a film score, who would be the director and what would be the subject the film?

That’s a tough one! The film could be some kind of dystopic journey with a complex storyline. I think Christopher Nolan would be a great director and the film should have a lot of great and emotional orchestral music.

What was it like working with Santeri Peltomäki of Entropy Studio Finland? Did he provide you with any ideas or new ways of thinking that you didn’t have going into the recordings?

It was a pleasure to work with Santeri again. He has produced all of our material so far and the recording process has always been fantastic. This time everyone seemed to play and sing the best way possible and many parts were recorded with just a one take. Santeri has a lot of small suggestions that will make a big difference in the end.

Was there any challenge in finding a balance between the unclean and clean vocals? How did the decision to give Jenna her own song come about?

It wasn’t an easy task for sure. Many parts could have had a clean or unclean vocal performance on top of it. In our music it’s sometimes hard to have any kind of vocals because of so vast instrumental work. ‘The History’ is a good example that there isn’t always a need for vocals.

I composed the song ‘Treason’ specifically to have a lot of room for vocals and it quite naturally became a softer “Jenna-song” with an angry instrumental interlude.

There are a number of different styles and sub-genres in “152”. Who do you consider your peers and influences to be?

Great question. This time I composed almost everything for the EP and it’s a small mystery how I come up with ideas even for myself. I might not do anything for months and then suddenly I might have several songs ready in a week.

We have a lot of influences for sure but maybe there aren’t any specific bands or artists that we admire. I love many styles of music and inspiration can be found from surprising sources. Also, for example our drummer, Samppa, and Jenna prefer to listen all kinds of music from jazz to pop, this can be heard from the end result in a great way!

“152” by Dimman is out now via Inverse Records