Pascal & Baya Rays Sonic Joy

“When foraging for mushrooms, you never know what the forest has to offer that day – who you will meet, what will make you stop in your tracks. But with an open attitude, you will always find something interesting.”

It was this mindset this album was recorded with. The Hämeenlinna-based band consists of Victor “Pascal” Tokpanou on percussion, Tuure “Baya” Tammi on keys and trumpet, Ville-Pekka “Ray” Järvinen on bass and, Juha “Murray” Sarkkola on drums. They have played together for a long time – in different ensembles, with different names, some already as teenagers, but all of them in the past ten years as part of their bigger funk band The Blassics. When The Blassics went on a break during the pandemic years, the new, smaller ensemble was born.

The name of the album, Sonic Joy, was inspired by the band's creative process. At their weekly rehearsals, often tired after long working days, the four sit down and start playing pretty much straight away. Without deciding on a direction, the sessions are a sort of musical catching up - you can hear how someone is through their playing. A sonic conversation, a back and forth of expressing, listening and existing in the music, in the groove and vibrations. It conjures up images and ideas and the band always feels energised after rehearsals - “often we leave the studio feeling like it's a new morning”.

The Odd Funk Records studio the band recorded at has been their rehearsal space for ten years and has provided them a space for analogue mixing experimentation. Often the band records while they play, listens back and mixes on the fly with an old reel-to-reel - enjoying the raw sound, adding tape effects, leaving in scratches and imperfections. The titles were found collaboratively as well, named in the four languages the members speak in their everyday lives, Finnish, French, Fon and English.

The spirit of openness and experimentation is extended to the listener - from Pascal & Baya Rays to you, an album of sonic joy and togetherness.'' (Linernotes by: Miia Laine)