Inspiration off the beaten path

I suppose one good reason for getting to know new people is to open ourselves up to things we might not otherwise discover. Marrying a Finnish woman has certainly exposed me to a whole new world I never knew existed, and much of that has been a rich vein for a writer to mine. But when you marry a person you also marry their family, which opens up even more possibilities.

My wife, for example, has very different musical tastes from her sister. In fact I’ve probably learned more about popular Finnish music from my sister-in-law than from my wife. It was my sister-in-law that introduced me to Elonkerjuu, a Finnish folk-rock group (formerly Lauri Tähkä ja Elonkerjuu, but we don’t like to talk about Lauri…).

More recently my sister-in-law introduced me to Nightwish, a Finnish metal band. I have to admit I’m not a fan of metal music, and so I didn’t have high expectations going in. But Nightwish has their own take on metal, often including orchestral elements to the music, and often unifying entire albums around a concept. The album my sister-in-law sent us is such an album. As I understand it, Imaginaerum was created not just as an album, but as a movie as well–almost an extended music video tying it all together.

I’ve not seen the movie, but the album design and the music itself are evocative, reminding me a little of “The Night Circus“, by Erin Morgenstern. Certainly Gothic in feel, all but the first song are in English, and full of imagery and designed to inspire emotions. It’s a window into a different world, a different perspective, and while it’s not one I necessarily enjoy, it expands my own perspective that much more. It’s a view of a state of mind that is unfamiliar to me. It’s not one I would want for myself, but knowing that other people have that perspective is in itself a source of inspiration for me.

It’s not a perspective I would have found on my own. Even though Nightwish has a following here in the United States I would never have picked up any of their music. But here I have an opportunity to experience it anyway. I can’t say that Nightwish is going to end up on my playlists, but there may be times, when writing certain moods or characters, I may need to pull out Imaginaerum for inspiration.