Nightwish album #10 pre-release discussion

[Fugazi]

On the NW YouTube:

To celebrate the release of Yesterwynde, the band will answer questions in a YouTube Q&A upon album release! Post your questions in the comments below, and Kai, Jukka and Troy will answer them in a video!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQplaZZ2mv8fo8Zd-1hQPzg/community?lb=Ugkx_g9WiRZ6NXSQu1nweT_fhXojs_cnOPlx

[Moondance]

I have found out apparently that the third single is set to be "Lanternlight", the final track of the album, and is set to release after the album has come out, with another music video. I had guessed the third single to originally be "The Antikythera Mechanism", so it looks like I was off by a lot.

 

Edited August 15 by Moondance

[Fugazi]

The Yesterwynde game has been updated with more photos and the chance to win some NW albums. The photos are fun:

[Moondance]

Third and final single was announced: "An Ocean of Strange Islands", which comes out on September 10, ten days before the album is released. Looks like I was off on "Lanternlight" being the last single.

[Fugazi]

On 9/4/2024 at 12:12 PM, Moondance said:

Third and final single was announced: "An Ocean of Strange Islands", which comes out on September 10, ten days before the album is released. Looks like I was off on "Lanternlight" being the last single.

I think that "Lanternlight" will still be the last single, and that they added "An Ocean of Strange Islands" as a fourth offering, or the other way around. One of them might just have a lyrical video, as they always mentioned having shot 3 videos.

[Fugazi]

Conductor and arranger James Shearman talks about the choirs on Yesterwynde.

https://www.facebook.com/JamesShearmanConductor/posts/pfbid01FQESTBewJ4sEVFaWyn8HsCN8YvtbCToTmUYETAcNpqfbrHpHjWjhCPRCHiWtxAYl

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed listening to the orchestral and choral parts for ‘The Day Of…’

 

In my last post I mentioned that I’d talk about the choirs that you’ll hear in many Nightwish songs, sometimes singing Tuomas’s lyrics, other times a phonetic, and more often that not just simple vowels Ohh, Ahh etc. Whatever they sing, they always make a magnificent sound.

 

Going back to the first few albums, I remember conducting Pip and Tuomas’s arrangements and thinking that the amount of choir we were recording was insane! (I don’t think I've ever told Tuomas this Lol!). The choir seemed to be singing on everything and everywhere, but what I didn’t know at that time was how Tuomas would eventually use these parts in the mix. Sometimes they would be quite featured, sometimes they would be playing very much a background role behind the lead vocals just punctuating certain phases with lyrics, and sometimes they would be tucked right back singing ohh’s and ahh’s to add a soft texture to the strings. This approach has pretty much remained a constant with all subsequent Nightwish albums and the choir has become a big part of the Nightwish sound.

 

So who are the singers that make up the Nightwish choir? They are all elite professional freelance singers from the UK and many of them are soloists in their own right, others sing in opera companies or professional chamber choirs, etc, etc and thankfully for us these amazing talents are available to be booked via a contractor for studio recording work in any number from one to a hundred or more singers. Much of their studio work (like mine) is for film soundtracks, but they will also record for albums, west end musicals and just about anything else that requires singers. Finally; they are incredibly versatile, they have to be able to switch from one style to another with ease. The Nightwish choir usually consists of around 32 singers, divided into soprano, mezzo soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass parts, and the style of singing (for most Nightwish songs) is high octane english choral singing.

 

Tuomas always demos his own choir parts, he uses samples from his Korg keyboard to record his ideas, and then I (in the case of Yesterwynde) then refined the parts. For me, It’s an easier job than orchestrating for the orchestra, there are usually a maximum of six different parts to finesse, and again; the art is knowing when to focus in on a section that needs help, and when to leave something alone.

 

We don’t rehearse before the recording dates, the singers turn up on the day of the recording sessions, the music is on their stands and we start recording straight away as there is always a huge amount of choir to record. We record approximately three songs in a three hour recording session - which is around 18 - 20 mins of music, which is a lot.

 

We usually record the choir parts for the entire album in around 10 hours of recording time. This means that all the singers have to be excellent sight readers, they have to be able to sing every note and lyric that's on the page perfectly, first time round, without being able to learn their part first via the choirmaster/mistress at the piano. Though they are very capable of sight-singing through the entire song in one go - including with the famous Nightwish key changes (often tricky key changes), we do in fact break up the song into approximately sixteen bar chunks, this way they can give one hundred percent of their energy and focus to a section of the song, stop, get their breath back and then move on to the next section. Sometimes I will change a few things in their parts, I’ll dictate those changes to them and straight away they will then re-record with those changes perfectly. They are super efficient and we keep moving through each song like this until the album is complete.

 

I always conduct them throughout the recording sessions, but I am often assisted by a ‘choir master/mistress’ who will either be singing within the choir, or at a keyboard in front of the choir. They will often give just the very first pitch of the notes that the choir have to sing a few seconds before we record. They are also there to help the choir with anything that is proving particularly difficult as they are singers themselves so have a better technical understanding of the mechanics of the voice than I. For all the previous Nightwish albums the choir mistress was the brilliant Jenny O'Grady, though Tom Pearce took over this role for Yesterwynde and also did a fabulous job.

 

The Nightwish material is rarely that straight forward for the choir, it can be rhythmically quite tricky from time to time and much of it is quite high for long periods of time. It also often has to be really 'sung-out’ with intensity and drama, and finally there is A LOT of material to get through, it is both mentally and physically very demanding on them. They are a great group of people, brilliant singers, fun, and they really commit to whatever is being asked of them. Many of them have sung on every Nightwish album!

 

I mentioned earlier that the choir is booked via a vocal contractor, who’s job it is to book any style and combination of singers, they might be asked to book five Tibetan singers, or a 50 piece Greek Orthodox Byzantine Choir, the request could literally be for anything. In the past Tuomas has often requested the exotic and unusual to compliment the orchestra with all sorts of featured ethnic instruments from around the world, and he has also complimented the full choir with some different vocal ensembles such as gospel and children's choirs, including most recently with the children’s choir from the Cardinal Vaughan School in London, under the direction of Scott Price, featured on ‘The Day Of…’ These children were phenomenal, they did have the music to learn prior to turning up for the recording at Abbey Road studio one, and Scott had done a brilliant job rehearsing and preparing them for the recording, but as with most recording sessions there are always some changes to the music, and the way that they dealt with these little changes was simply amazing. They were incredibly disciplined, and singing with headphones to a click track was also no big deal for them as they had lots of experience with this having already sung on numerous film soundtracks for composers such as Danny Elfman and were a particular feature on Micheal Dana’s score for Life of Pi . They had a great part to sing on 'The Day Of…’ and they really captured that slightly rebellious vibe that Tuomas was looking for.

So there we are, that's the spotlight put on our brilliant Nightwish choirs. There’s lots of choir on Yesterwynde, and some real unexpected treats, I won’t go into anymore detail on these tracks as I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

 

There is a Q and A being organised with Pip Williams and myself for November, we’re still figuring it out but will announce the final details soon.

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post.

 

Have a great week everyone.

[Fugazi]

I don't remember if this was posted here before, but Spotify (and presumably other players) have the tracks lenghts of the new songs. There are plenty of longer longs, and the champion is the upcoming single 'An Ocean Of Strange Islands' at 9:26. 'Yesterwynde' definitely doesn't look like a full song.

1. Yesterwynde (2:43)
2. An Ocean Of Strange Islands (9:26)
3. The Antikythera Mechanism (5:55)
4. The Day Of...  (4:33)
5. Perfume Of The Timeless (8:12)
6. Sway (4:23)
7. The Children Of 'Ata (5:37)
8. Something Whispered Follow Me (6:39)
9. Spider Silk (6:26)
10. Hiraeth (6:14)
11. The Weave (4:53)
12. Lanternlight (6:06)

Also, pre-saving the album through the link below will allow you to sign up for a chance to win Tuomas’ original double platinum record of 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful', or one of the two white 'Yesterwynde' vinyls.

https://nightwish.bfan.link/yesterwynde.fpo

[Moondance]

Obviously not released until tomorrow, but it turns out to be a lyric video coming in for the third and final single, "An Ocean of Strange Islands".

[Moondance]

Another one that slipped past me, a music video for "Lanternlight"! Honestly, I thought "An Ocean of Strange Islands" was the final one, but I was off once again! It hasn't premiered yet, but I will leave the link here.

 

[Fugazi]

A video recap from the press pre-listening session at Finnvox Studio on August 9th.

[Fugazi]

Another detailed review of the album:

https://etherealmetalzine.com/2024/09/15/nightwishs-yesterwynde-reignites-a-spark-in-timeless-epic/