Toni Perttula - Accordion, programming
Viivi Maria Saarenkylä - Artistic Producer

Perttula's solo album Pajavasara /Forge Hammer is auniquely handcrafted Finnish creation, containing strong folk music influences, dark soundscapes and primal rhythms. Like the process of a blacksmith, Perttula creates something timeless and extraordinary from his carefully selected source elements.

“Metal working is a way to change the innate nature of a raw material, manipulate its shape and make it behave in the desired way. At the roots of this album is a strong will for self-fulfillment, a will to melt music together and change its form. The theme of the album and the name "Forge Hammer" are descriptive when I think of making the album itself. Many of the songs were not born naturally, and the "Forge Hammer" could be described as my spiritual tool as I shaped them.

The creation of the album has been long and challenging. In the end, the journey I made with this record has been fantastic, and I was able to envisage the stunning scenery of music, even if I recorded it in my own living room.

During that time, the songs slowly revealed themselves as almost human-minded creatures, whose nature had to be understood before I could get along with them. I wish the listener at least as imaginative a journey listening to the record as it has been for me creating it.”

Toni Perttula is a true musical blacksmith. His open-minded experimentation with diverse musical styles and genres has forged a path towards creating his own unique musical approach and identity.

Perttula's lyrical accordion playing is accompanied by the primal, rhythmic beating of hammers and anvils found in a blacksmith's workshop, inviting the listener into a new world where sounds are melted and manipulated by a musical blacksmith into a whole new form.