Maini Sorri – “Bring Me Home”
Maini Sorri is a Swedish-Finnish singer, musician and songwriter living in Sweden who has composed music since she was 8 years old. She has studied song, piano and music theory and is a Bachelor of Arts. She has recorded her own songs and performed them in concerts and on radio and Swedish TV. Maini’s discography contains 5 albums, 3 extended plays and 19 singles. You can read more on her Webpage and at Wikipedia. Brian Lanese, the three time Emmy Award winner and lead singer in the multiple Grammy-nominated LA band Permanent Ability, contacted Maini Sorri in 2015, for the opportunity to produce her next record. The result is the 6 track album, “Bring Me Home”, which also features guitarist Orlando Mestre, the co-producer, arranger and instrumentalist on the album, who has participated in America’s Got Talent, and toured around the world.
All songs on the album, except the title song “Bring Me Home”, have previously been released as singles. “Bring Me Home” is based on a true story that Maini told Gary Cornman from USA. Gary, the lyricist of all the songs on the album, surprised Maini by writing a poem about her adventure that she then composed. The song “Lost Love (Dance Remix)” climbed on two national DRT Toplists for 5000+ radio stations in June 2015. The song is also featured amongst the incredible 50 song soundtrack in the stunning videogame ‘The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor’.
Others who collaborated on the album include, Anthony Dini, Brandon Bujnowski, Dan Thomas Runway Studios, Janne Jutila who recorded the vocals, and Johan Zetterlund who took care of the artwork. This might be Maini Sorri best album. Let’s just state that at the outset.
It’s dramatically rocking as hell, as this dynamic Nordic talent showcases yet another chapter of her musical life. “Bring Me Home” acts like part of a gripping ongoing series. It’s dramatic, action-packed, tightly wrapping up its lyrical narratives and providing artistic closure. It’s mature, grounded and with the benefit of hindsight, bolsters the caliber of Maini’s previous records.
The tracks simultaneously recognize the grandiose effect of people like Lanese, Mestre and Cornman, while hinting towards their ongoing upward trajectory. This gives the album an impacting collective feel, like the finale of a mesmerizing opera. The narratives has been sculpted with precision and a delicate touch.
The production delivers coherent, flowing works that absorb. The songs grow with each play, becoming increasingly transfixing, drawing the listener in with their spiral soundscapes and employing Maini Sorri’s high-pitched vocals to great, yet subtle, effect.
The opening title track, “Bring Me Home”, quickly injects some kaleidoscopic color by way of mellifluous choruses seemingly drawn from the heavens and outfitted with luscious layers of keys and synths, while it takes a bow with a driving four-to-the- floor rhythm and a melody that remains in the memory long after the music fades. The album closes with the drone and buzz of more synthesizers, banging drums and soaring choruses on “Lost Love (Dance Remix)”.
But it’s in-between, on songs like “Parting Of Our Way”, “I Fall To Pieces” and “Never Said Goodbye” that Maini succeeds in doing what her voice is intended to do: contrast the fully formed rock aesthetic of the overdriven electric guitar.
The adrenaline spike is immediately and effectively centered, with the rush of rocking riffs on “Parting Of Our Way” as Maini’s vocals bring an ethereal fairytale-like aura into an infectious mix of pomp and passion. The steadily undulating piano intro on “I Fall To Pieces” turns into fiercely renewed energy once the arrangement explodes into full bloom.
Skipping the original version of “Lost Love”, our ears are given the outstanding treat of “Never Say Goodbye. Opening with a simple guitar melody that gradually develops with layers of sounds and swelling riffs supplemented by inspired vocals.
The track is thumping and anthemic, pulsing and in your face, with Maini at the top of her game. This is as downright amazing as it could have been. There’s just so many ideas in the heads of Maini Sorri and her collaborators that 6 tracks just doesn’t seem enough. There’s depth, intensity, emotion, and interesting collaborations on offer, which ticks all the boxes for an extremely memorable recording from Maini Sorri.
OFFICIAL LINKS: FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM – YOUTUBE – REVERBNATION – TWITTER – BANDCAMP
Read more about the collaborators here:
Maini Sorri: http://mainisorri.com/wordpress/?page_id=41
Brian Lanese: http://www.gotinterviews.com/permanent-ability-frontman-brian-lanese/
Orlando Mestre: http://omestre7.wixsite.com/oguitars/about
Permanent Ability: http://www.permanentability.com/