New Song and Video
We've been silently but relentlessly working on a new track and a musicvideo. The video is now on Youtube and the track on Bandcamp, probably soon on other platforms as well. It's been another unique journey with the music, recording and the process of video making.
Witnesses popped as a mocking, children's tune-like melody into my head, singing "We are God's organisation..." and developed from there, first into lyrics, then on a music sheet. I didn't have a clear picture of the guitars, like I usually do, just the vocals, chords and that it had to have this "tribal" beat, like in many punkish songs. So we processed the structure and basic elements with Kimmo until we had something to present to others, and the whole band took it from there. So the music is made by the whole band rather than just me alone, which is what I'm keen to develop further.
"Witnesses" continues the themes heard in "Crimson Sun". It's about Jehovah's witnessess, pretty directly so. The lyrics and ideas to this and many other songs were formed after my encounter and discussions with the Witnesses, and it was part of my own journey out of religion and faith. These discussions were eye opening, they helped me to see the problems of my own belief system, the religion I had been brought up with, and how cult-like that environment had actually been.
Jehovah's Witnesses are widely recognised as a cult, an organisation formed around an ideology, that attempts to control the lives of it's members on multiple levels. This is nowadays recognised in psychology as well, as more and more cult survivors are speaking out and bringing out their knowledge and experience to that field. If you have ever wondered why e g. Jehovah's Witnesses do what they do, why they dress certain way (they do have rules for that too...) why they make certain life choices other people wouldn't necessarily do, well, it's all because of the control of the ideology they follow. And, I would argue, also peer pressure. How ever peaceful and loving these people are, they are in a cult and in a mental prison.
You can find out more about in here:
It's a great channel if you want to find out about more about Jehovah's Witnesses through an ex-member.
"Witnesses" is an attempt to describe the cult mentality and cognitive dissonance the people inside cults have. It's about Jehovah's Witnesses but it really could be about any cult, or anyone under the heavy veil of propaganda, like people in certain states, for example... The thought patters are very similar in any fringe religion and cult. The idea of being the only group that has the truth, that there is no salvation outside that group, the idea that you should give up your time to the organisation, that this life is not important anyway, only the next...
Another level in the lyrics, which we also incorporated in the video, is the mental gymnastics people in cults constantly have to do to keep their world view and themselves together. All the information from outside, that questions their idelogy, have to be kept at bay or worked around. All the questions that rise up from within have to be locked away and twisted into something that fits the tight box of that ideology. This is why, in cults, outside influence, like TV, social media etc are frowned upon, and regular attendance to the groups meetings is encouraged, even forced.
And, one more thing, it can be forced. The thought and behaviour control can be enforced. Although cults will love bomb you to get you in, and embrace you and welcome you in their midst, they are also prepared to turn their backs to you, if you don't behave. They will leave you to starve for the love they withheld from you, and die of loneliness. It's not always in the rulebook to shun misbehaving members, but in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses, it's a practice they base on the Bible itself.
Of course, there are people that are happy in these kinds of groups, those that really believe in the cause, some of them maybe seeing the opportunity for power. Others are not happy, and they are the ones leaving. They would rather suffer the shutting out of the group than be in that mental prison. I haven't personally been shut out from a group, (my church was, but that's another story) but I do count myself in as a cult survivor. As that, it is not my intention to just mock cult people, rather, I hope that through this process of making songs about this subject, I'll be able to understand them better and have more compassion.
The video was shot a while ago at a studio after a regular work day, where we recorded most of the instruments too. There are even some additional guitars of mine in there! We also used archive material from Finnish tv archives. They were free to use and we found some material about dancing and women's gymnastics in unison, which really fit to the theme. There are a couple of bits from a women's self defense course. The archive material is from the fifties and sixties, so our final artistic desicion was to turn everything into black and white and add some graininess to the studio bits as well, to fit it with the archive ones. The end result is quite satisfying, in my opinion. Hopefully you have enjoyed it as well!
Flora
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