KO:MI | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

We Said We Didn’t Know but We Knew is the second album from KO:MI, Sanna Komi’s solo project. It is a thematic album about continuing to live and love during multiple environmental emergencies and the social injustices built in them. Its stories often concern love and relationships, but the societal backdrop, implicit at times, becomes overt and explicit by the end of the album. Amongst anger and frustration with the seeming inability of humanity to deal with climate change and growing global inequalities – an inability that especially us in the global North are irreversibly entangled in whether we have chosen so or not – there is also hope and compassion for humanity as a whole.The multi-layered violin and electronic compositions of the album are accompanied by performances from Mikko Joensuu on vocals, Suvi Linnovaara (AINON, Perussastamala 6, Tikka & Linnovaara) on clarinet and flute, Saara Viika (Café de Abejas, Phenomenal Creature) on cello and Markus Perttula (Sans Parade) on double bass and vocals. The album is produced, mixed and mastered by acclaimed producer Pasi Viitanen (Ros Red, I Was a Teenage Satan Worshipper).

Focus Track: Seven Things is a full blown duet between Sanna Komi and Mikko Joensuu (Joensuu 1685) Of the track Komi tells us : Seven Things is an obsessive love song duetted with the most wonderful Mikko Joensuu. It explores an affection akin to addiction, where through incessant rumination the subject becomes more imaginary than real. Were the feelings there even in the first place, or was it all just a distraction from all the other shit going on in the world rightnow? ”Seven Things is one of the oldest songs on the album. Originally I wanted to write a very classical, Where the Wild Roses Grow –type of a duet, and the melody had been playing in my head for years before we started work on the album. In the end, the arrangement became something far simpler than I had envisioned - with help and insight from producer Pasi Viitanen, leaving room for the melody and the cellos played by Saara Viika. I knew I wanted it to be a duet with someone with a lower voice than mine, and Mikko with his uniquelly powerful voice was the first person I thought of. The end result turned out even better than I had dared hope for!”