Earlier this month I performed the first time with my new live set, in which I play acoustic handpans, Octatrack, Syntakt, Ableton Push and Moog Grandmother. I have often combined electronics with my handpans (my main instrument), but this was the first time I felt I could improvise freely with my songs. Usually I’ve felt constrained by the technology, so I have tried to keep my live setups simple and minimal, but when preparing for this gig I learned that having more machines on stage can sometimes mean more freedom. In a bigger setup one machine can focus on just one role on stage, just like each band member usually focuses on one instrument in a song. So I let Syntakt focus on the drums and other rhythmic patterns, Octatrack and Ableton were doing ambiences and various background noises and Grandmother was in constant dialogue with the handpans, occasionally taking a solo. Ableton worked mostly as a mixer, but I did perform some instrumental parts with Push.
The gig took place in a church in Helsinki, which was transformed into an electronic music club for a night. The gig was streamed and captured on video. Here’s a clip of me performing a new track called Karma Dust.
