Hallatar is the new Finnish band formed by Juha Ravio. This is a tribute project to Aleah Liane Starbridge work and life, which unfortunately succumbed to cancer last year after the recording of Trees Of Eternity debut album.
With the intention to immortalise her work, “Carry the flame of Aleah”, her partner Juha invited Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis) and Gas Lipstick (ex-HIM) to join him in this special project. Read below what they have to say about it:
“I am grateful and very honoured to be asked to join this band,” says Gas Lipstick. “Juha is a dear friend of mine since many years ago, and when he told me about his vision for Hallatar and asked me to join, I said yes instantly – I just had to be part of this amazing journey. I had never heard a single note of the music before I gave my ‘yes’ because I didn’t need to. Juha has been one of my favourite songwriters already for years, and I knew that Hallatar will be a very deep, personal, and one-of-a-kind story which I wanted to help him to bring alive.”
“I have known Juha from the year 2007, when we worked together for the first time,” adds Tomi Joutsen. “A couple years ago, I had the privilege to meet Juha’s life partner, Aleah Starbridge, who was such a beautiful person, inside and outside, and had an angelic voice out of this world. Aleah lent her voice on the latest Amorphis album, and we called her ‘the whispering ghost.’ When I heard about Aleah’s passing last spring, it came as a total shock and heartbreaking news out of the blue. When Juha asked me if I would want to be part of this album and carry Aleah’s flame with him, I didn’t have to think twice. When everything has been taken, all that is left is the music. The sorrow strips us naked and leave us humble – this is how it sounds like.”
To be released on October 13 via Svart Records, Hallatar’s debut album, “No Stars Upon The Bridge”, is lyrically based on Leah’s lyrics and poems, and deeply entwined with her spirit too, as Juha explains:
Photo from “Trees Of Eternity”
”After the death of my beloved and my life partner Aleah Starbridge on April 18th a year ago, he explains, “I have been gathering writings, lyrics, and the poems of Aleah to keep them safe and close to my heart. About one month after the world came down on the blackest day of my life, I knew I needed to pick up the guitar and try to create something or I would be truly destroyed. And something did arrive out of the darkness, and I wrote the music for the Hallatar album in a week’s time. I don’t have much memory of this week, not a memory of a single day of writing the music. But all I remember when going into this abyss of the writing process was a promise to myself that whatever music would come out, I would not touch or change anything of it afterwards. What mattered was that the music would stay forever as an absolute truth of those moments as they came out. I asked my good friends – and amazing musicians – Tomi Joutsen and Gas Lipstick if they would want to record this music with me, and both of them said yes without even hearing a note of it. I am forever grateful to both of them for sharing this road with me; even the weight of the process has not been easy to carry, or will be.”
Upon the release of the first single “Mirrors” from “No Stars Upon The Bridge” debut album, the band comments:
“Today we lit the first torch for Aleah Liane Starbridge and release the first single and the video from the song “Mirrors” out of the album “No Stars Upon the Bridge”. Carry the flame with us friends and always trust your inner light. This is Hallatar.”
Juha Raivio concludes:
“What we recorded was a raw moment in time honoring the memory, lyrics, and poems of Aleah Starbridge with all its pain, beauty and darkness. There are no stars left upon the bridge to light the way anymore, but the music will always be a dim light, even in the darkest of the night.”
Hallatar
“No Stars Upon The Bridge”
(Svart Records)
1. Mirrors
2. Raven’s Song
3. Melt
4. My Mistake (feat. Heike Langhans)
5. Pieces
6. Severed Eyes
7. The Maze
8. Spiral Gate
9. Dreams Burn Down (feat. Aleah Starbridge)
Pre-ordering of the album is already possible through Svart Records. You can find CD’s and Vinyls and also limited edition versions of the album with velvet-covered gold foil -stamped covers, and also Hallatar shirts.
HALLATAR:
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
Gas Lipstick – drums
Juha Raivio – guitar, bass, keys
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