Liima is a new band formed by Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö plus Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg of Danish act Efterklang.
Their debut album ii features songs written in Finland, Berlin, Istanbul and Madeira during four weeklong residencies, each place influencing the sound, sometimes literally through field recording and sampling. Every residency ended with a live concert, performing the freshly written songs in front of an audience.
Translated from Finnish as ‘glue’, Liima found the spontaneity of writing and performing in a limited time frame hugely liberating. From a simple live set-up - synthesizers, drum samplers, vocals, effects pedals and a bass guitar – the four were able to draw upon their creative dynamic, playing by intuition like a collective conscience, to shape improvised sketches and ideas into songs. They took the same instinctive approach when recording the album. In October 2015 the band along with producer Jonas Verwijnen headed to Vox-Ton studio in Berlin, recording the album in just three days, playing everything together live with no overdubs. ii was mixed to tape by Francesco Donadello.