Pennies By The Pound ~ Heat Death of the Universe

Prog rock outfit Pennies By The Pound present 'The Waters', a great sonic cleansing experience and invigorating shot of fresh air, beautifully expressing their own unique ideas and sound through the prism of fantastic British progressive rock.

Not long ago, this Finnish trio released their album 'Heat Death of the Universe' via the Lilith label. Mastered by Ride frontman Mark Gardener at his OX4Sound Studio in Oxford, this long-player was produced, recorded and mixed by Rauli 'Rake' Eskolin, a well achieved Finnish producer who boasts over a dozen No. 1 records in Finland in the past 20 years.

"The Waters' is actually one of the first songs I wrote for the band, but it took a while to take shape and thus, didn't originally end up on our debut EP. But that is a good thing as we managed to make the song a whole lot better for the album! It's an exploration of some of the generally unnamed, but powerful feelings evoked by certain things in nature and certain types of landscapes. I grew up and spent all of my childhood summers at the lakeshore, and the hundreds of lakes in Finland are quite a mysterious thing for me even to the present day," says frontman Johannes Susitaival.

Pennies By The Pound unique sound blends '80s prog rock and '90s-early '00s alternative rock. Heavily guitar-driven with a touch of keyboards, they love big choruses, guitar and keyboard solos, bridges and grandiose arrangements.

Hailing from Helsinki, Pennies by the Pound was formed in 2016 by Johannes Susitaival as a solo project, but quickly became a three-piece with Vesa Ranta and bass player Tomi Laaksonen, both musicians from his past bands. Earlier, the band released the video for 'Indigo Screams', but they had a bigger vision for 'The Waters' video.

"We had all sorts of grandiose plans for making a big video earlier (with a different crew and director) in time for the album release, but the pandemic ruined all of that," says Johannes Susitaival.

"After some pondering, I contacted Martin Brown (an old bandmate of mine, and I knew he'd been doing things with film of late) in the hope that he would be able to do something on a smaller scale. We managed to put together something that could be shot without a large production, but still looks pretty epic! We were certainly helped by the magnificent - while a bit too hot - weather this summer."

While still in a punk rock band, Johannes began exploring quite different musical avenues, which led to Pennies By The Pound's self-produced 'Bloodshed and the Blinding Sunlight' EP in 2018. After several years of searching, they found their ideal producer and began recording demos in 2019 for this album. Due to the pandemic, they were only able to record these tracks in autumn of 2020.

On November 📌 22, the 'Heat Death of the Universe' LP will be released on limited edition pink vinyl. Digitally, it is out now, available across the usual platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. The album can be ordered directly from the band, both as digital download and on vinyl, via Bandcamp.

"Pennies By The Pound have more in common with 60s psych-driven rock and 80s American college rock than with their Fenno-Scandian peers. Such a big and extravagant classic psychedelic rock. Wherever they may draw their influences from, one thing is for sure: this is brilliant music for here and now, wherever that may be" 
~ Big Takeover Magazine

"A trippy ride that recalls the familiar vibes and sounds of none other than Bob Mould, The Church / Marty Willson-Piper, Marillion and Jethro Tull. Yes, all of them and yes, this is actually possible. Loads of flair and professionalism from the band" 
~ Amplify Music Magazine

"Indeed a wonderful affair... Pennies By the Pound should be on everyone’s radar as a must-have album of 2021 and a band to watch in future" ~ The Record Stache

Pennies By The Pound

Heat Death of the Universe

Lilith Release:
📌 22 November 2021

VIDEO CREDITS
Written and directed by Martin Brown and Johannes Susitaival
Camera - Martin Brown and Sam Gurung
Editing - Martin Brown
Post-production - Sam Gurung

ALBUM CREDITS
Johannes Susitaival - vocals, drums, keyboards, rhythm guitar
Vesa Ranta - lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Tomi Laaksonen - bass guitar
Rauli Eskolin - additional keyboards, background vocals on track 6
Alexander Meaney - additional lead guitar on track 5
Kaisa Ranta - additional vocals on tracks 3 and 7, background vocals on track 6
All songs written by Johannes Susitaival, except for track 5 written by Johannes Susitaival and Mikko Maksimainen
All arrangements by Pennies by the Pound and Rauli Eskolin
Produced, recorded and mixed by Rauli "Rake" Eskolin
Recorded at E-Studio, Sipoo, Finland and Soundtrack Studio, Porvoo, Finland
Mastered by Mark Gardener in OX4 Sound Studio near Oxford

📸 PHOTOS
© by Video photos by Sam Gurung.
Studio photos by Henry Söderlund

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DIFFUSION October, 22, 2021