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MUSIC THAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM LOVE BY COLOR DOLOR

Leissi and Stina from Helsinki based Color Dolor give us an in depth look into the music that inspired and helped form their latest album Love.

SHUGGIE OTIS: AHT UH MI HEAD Shuggie’s album Inspiration/Information is an all time favourite album – the whole album truly is an inspiration! I really dig the organ drum machine grooves on this track. The track ‘Bluebird’ on Love is really inspired by Shuggie. -Leissi

MOSES SUMNEY: DON’T BOTHER CALLING Heard this song on the radio while driving to the cottage in Sipoo where we were recording the album. It was raining a lot the whole autumn, and this mellow album was really inspiring. We listened to it a lot . -Leissi

MOSES SUMNEY: DOOMED Moses Sumney’s album Aromanticism touched me personally with the subject of loneliness. -Stina

THE CONGOS: CHILDREN CRYING I listened a lot to this album the summer before starting our intensive work period in autumn 2017. I heard the song ‘Fisherman’ somewhere and I couldn’t understand how I’ve missed this classic. A great album, great lyrics, singing, playing and production by Lee Scratch Perry. -Leissi

RHYTHM & SOUND: JAH RULE (with Paul St. Hillaire) I heard this song the first time maybe three years ago while on tour with a band. We were driving from one festival to the next in the night and it was really foggy outside. My friend Didi put this song on and we listened to it on full volume over and over again with the bass shaking the car. I’ve really loved the aesthetic of Rhythm & Sound since then. Some old version of our song ‘Running in the dark’ was really influenced by Rhythm & Sound. -Leissi

We were driving from one festival to the next in the night and it was really foggy outside. My friend Didi put this song on and we listened to it on full  volume over and over again with the bass shaking the car. I’ve really loved the aesthetic of Rhythm & Sound since then

THE UPSETTERS: CALLYING BUT I laid down the track for ‘Open your eyes, mercury’ on a drum loop I sampled from this track. Then we played live drums on top of it. You can still hear short snippets of the sample here and there. I heard this track on a great collection by Trojan Records called Dub. -Leissi

YAEJI: DRINK I’M SIPPIN ON Heard this track while working on the post production of Love. It blew my mind, and I listened to it a lot. -Leissi

PRINCESS NOKIA: TOMBOY Great song with inspiring attitude and political content. -Leissi

RIHANNA: CONSIDERATION Really dig the 4 first tracks of Rihanna‘s Anti album. The heavy beat, bouncing melody and lyrics in this song, love it! -Leissi

FRANK OCEAN: SELF CONTROL Frank Ocean’s Blonde is a really inspiring album as a whole.  The collage like structuring of the songs was a big inspiration while making Love. At the same time personal, mellow, approachable and biting. Here’s one track from the album, I recommend listening to the whole album. It’s one of the few albums that I feel like listening to over and over again. – Leissi

JAMES BLAKE: RETROGRADE We listened to this song when trying to perfect minimalistic dope productions. James Blake is one of the artists I’ve really fallen for in the last 10 years. -Stina

We listened to this song when trying to perfect minimalistic dope productions

AGNES OBEL: FAMILIAR Agnes Obel makes amazing magical music. I listened a lot to the album Citizen of Glass in Autumn 2017 – love the production and most of all the songs. -Stina

M: KAARINA Finnish artist M released her first album at the time we were working on Love. I loved the minimalist approach and mystic feel to it. Great album. Also great live! -Stina

ARTHUR RUSSELL: SOON-TO-BE INNOCENT FUN/LET’S SEE My friend and colleague Juho Kanervo introduced me to this fantastic album, made by looping and echoing cello and voice. Absolutely beautiful and quite complex, I always come back to this. -Stina

D’ANGELO: ANOTHER LIFE We started working on some of the songs on the Love album already a couple of years ago. D’angelo‘s album Black Messiah inspired me a lot at that time. Spiritual and political. Funkadelic vibes. Really great album. Somehow I like listening to this particular song a lot. -Leissi

BLOOD ORANGE: AUGUSTINE I really like the heavy static beats combined with a melancholic undertone of Blood Orange. -Leissi

SOLANGE: LOOSING YOU Our song ‘Revolution’ was actually really influenced by this song. The first version of the song, had more jazzy chords, and was in E major, instead of E minor which it is in now.  At some point I realised that I have to make the song harmonically more simple. I like the drum loop going on through the whole song, and Solange‘s great vocals. This production is also by Dev Hynes (Blood Orange). -Leissi

J DILLA: TIME: THE DONUT OF THE HEART Hard to name just one track by J Dilla. This Jackson 5 sample, mood and beat in this song is great. I listened to Donuts a lot the summer before we started working on Love. The album as a whole is beautiful!-Leissi

CHARLES MINGUS: DUET SOLO DANCERS Our track ‘Open Your Eyes, Mercury’ got started with me listening to and sampling this track. Then I tried to figure the chords out. And that somehow became the “chorus” part, and main melody of  ‘Open Your Eyes, Mercury’. – Leissi

MICHAEL JACKSON: REMEMBER THE TIME Michael Jackson was a genius, obviously – ha! His way of singing is like no other. The rhythm in every word is precise and tasty. His way of spitting out the lyrics helped me with ‘Can’t Love You Anymore’ and ‘Running In The Dark’. Just the thought of Michael’s spectacular singing and I succeeded better! Also, the album Dangerous was my favourite as a kid. -Stina

The rhythm in every word is precise and tasty. His way of spitting out the lyrics helped me with ‘Can’t Love You Anymore’ and ‘Running In The Dark’

PRINCE: WHEN DOVES CRY Michael Jackson, Prince and Jimi Hendrix are my childhood idols. Always influencing practically anything I do somehow.  (There’s a Prince inspired guitar solo in the end of our song ‘I Can’t Love You Anymore’). -Leissi

PRINCE: PURPLE RAIN This epic masterpiece is always on my mind when composing new music. I really admire the way Prince sings, very percussive and full blast emotion. Also the long outro of the song is inspiring, one can do whatever one wants, really. -Stina

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU This song is a classic, Whitney was a superhero, legendary and natural born storyteller singer from another world… When I studied in Gothenburg I started to study wailing, and Whitney (and this song) was my number one teacher. -Stina

BJÖRK: COCOON I have always adored Björk, the genius. ‘Cocoon’ and the whole album Vespertine is sung with such an intense, vulnerable and allowing manner. I tried to achieve something similar while recording some songs on Love, singing laying on a sofa, sitting in an armchair, taking it easy and staying vulnerable… forgetting perfect. -Stina

singing laying on a sofa, sitting in an armchair, taking it easy and staying vulnerable… forgetting perfect.

FRANK OCEAN: MOON RIVER
This is a great version of ‘Moon River’. Melody is beautifully arranged with the vocals and all is done with great style and grace. -Stina

HENRY MANCINI, AUDREY HEPBURN: MOON RIVER What a beautiful melody, a true classic. When we started composing ‘Dumbo’ we wanted to make a classic kind of a composition. The intro is very Satie-like but when the vocals start, the idea was to make a standard… Also the lyric came out very poetic. Painting a picture. -Stina

Color Dolor’s album Love is out now.

Color Dolor play the following shows this coming Autumn

8.09 Alt Okej Klubi, Kapsäkki
22.9 TTT-klubi, Tampere (DUO w/LauNau)
13.10 Superwood, HKI
9.11 On the rocks, HKI
1.12 Voodoo Music Club, HKI

Find Color Dolor online