Sieluntyö is Finnish for "Soulwork".

This song is based on a short spell I recorded just a few years back in 2023 (the two lines of the chorus): "I'm doing soulwork that sustains, and it enables enjoying life", as I was sending out my intention to live a life where I'm enjoying doing soulwork that sustains me. Can't say I'm a "specific manifestor" - I don't write long lists of requirements, but in these two lines I tried to express the energy of what I was after.

I felt like there could be some verses to make space for those other voices inside me, that are fighting against this intention. Or, at the very least, wanting to make my life more complex than "just enjoying". So this is another song that is kind of an introspective exploration and processing those different sides of me. Creating a dialogue with myself/different voices, through the song.

Now that I have contemplated the words of the chorus - "I'm doing soulwork that sustains, and it enables enjoying life", I realize that this "spell" could actually be developed further. It's not the soulwork that enables me to enjoy life - maybe enjoying is a state of mind that can be accessed from many different situations.. But I decided not to change those lines, because they describe the moment in time when I was trying to express that intention and kind of missed the mark a little bit. There's an inherent ambivalence in me, to even "allow" myself to try to express what I want, probably stemming from the conditioned humility I grew up with - just do your part, don't complain, keep your head down, don't prop yourself up, don't aim too high or try to be too different...which is exactly why it's so valuable for me to challenge myself to go against those programs and write a spell, an intention, or a song.)

Hope you enjoy a life where you are

doing your soulwork

whatever it is

or enjoying life

just for the sake of

enjoying it.

› Lyrics‹ Lyrics

Sieluntyö (original Finnish lyrics)

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Teen sieluntyötä joka elättää

ja se mahdollistaa elämästä nauttimisen

Hei, sul on oltava kunnon työ,

että yö kuluu nopeasti,

että lepo on ansaittua

Ansaittua

Kova työ, kova leipätyö,

että hiki valuu päästä,

ettet päästä iloa jos ei oo ansaittua

Ole tehokas

Ole tehokas

Teen sieluntyötä joka elättää

ja se mahdollistaa elämästä nauttimisen

Kuka oikein luulet olevas?

Miksi sinä saisit vain nauttia

me muuthan täällä raadetaan?

Ja miksi- pikkulikka, kuka sä luulet olevas?

Onko hopealusikka suussa?

Ja aiempien sukupolvien rahat taskussa?

Teen sieluntyötä joka elättää

ja se mahdollistaa elämästä nauttimisen

Kuka minä olen?

Mikä - mikä olen?

Olenko raatava ihminen vai ehkä

jotain muutakin?

Niin kuka mä oon, mikä mä oon,

kuka sinä olet, rakas ihminen?

Ja kuinka me voidaan tehdä sieluntyötä?

Niin, onko se etuoikeutettua tai

kaikkien oikeus, sielun työ

tehdä sitä mistä nauttii?

Mitä sanot?

Teen sieluntyötä

ja se mahdollistaa elämä-

Teen sieluntyötä joka elättää

ja se mahdollistaa elämästä nauttimisen

Lyrics translated to English

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I'm doing soulwork that sustains

and it enables enjoying life

Hey, you have to have a proper job,

so that the night goes fast,

and your rest is earned

Earned

Hard work, hard breadwork,

so the sweat drips from the head,

so that you don't let joy in if it isn't earned

Be efficient

Be efficient

I'm doing soulwork that sustains

and it enables enjoying life

Who do you think you are?

Why would you just get to enjoy

when all we others are struggling?

And why- little girl, who do you think you are?

Is that a silver spoon in your mouth?

And money of earlier generations in your pocket?

I'm doing soulwork that sustains

and it enables enjoying life

Who am I?

What - what am I?

Am I a struggling human or maybe

something else too?

Yeah, who am I, what am I,

who are you, dear human?

And how can we do our soulwork?

Yeah, is it privileged or

everyone's right, soulwork

to do what you enjoy?

What do you say?

I'm doing soulwork

and it enables life

I'm doing soulwork that sustains

and it enables enjoying life

2026 Copyright All rights reserved

Week 34/Song 12: While this feels unpolished I'm happy to complete another song that is all me (me on piano ,both parts, and vocals). This week it is another love song. I had started writing a much darker song for this week and put it aside and shifted toward a more happy song. I couldn't resist the opportunity to put out a love song about my love on the day of our 18th wedding anniversary.

This was a hard one to record. I deleted the wrong tracks (which I normally triple check or keep till the end) and when I had time to be able to record the vocals the nighttime hum of the bugs was so loud you can hear them in the background. It bugs me (insert laugh) but maybe it is just fate joining in.

Lyrics:

Do you recall when we first met?

So young we didn’t know yet.

She was busy making plans

for us to find each other once again.

Holding hands in the corvette.

Listening to our mix cassettes.

Sharing ‘bout the lives we’d had

and all the things that we had planned.

Diving into the blue sea.

A rush of calm flows over me.

It could not have been more clear

that our love would grow and grow.

Who knew, who knew

we’d make forever plans?

Who knew, who knew

our love was meant to be?

Who knew, who knew

we’d live so happily?

She knew. She knew.

Fate knew.

Press fast forward to the best.

and the life that we have had.

Each day is better than the rest.

Being with you, my perfect match.

Who knew, who knew

we’d make forever plans?

Who knew, who knew

our love was meant to be?

Who knew, who knew

we’d live so happily?

She knew. She knew.

Fate knew.

Fate knew. Fate knew.

She knew. She knew.

Who knew, who knew

we’d make forever plans?

Who knew, who knew

our love was meant to be?

Who knew, who knew

we’d live so happily?

Who knew. She knew.

Fate knew.

Fate knew. Fate knew.

2026 Copyright All rights reserved

2026 CC0 Creative Commons Zero (Public Domain)

Let's do some baroque death-doom metal. It's not exactly speedwhistle this time.

Picture is from the National Museum of Music. Wasn't quite sure what to use for this, so let's use a baroque instrument.

I've been having a ton of fun with Speedwhistle style stuff lately - it's sort of wild to me to hang in a genre for more than a month and still have ideas. I realized late this week that I wouldn't have a ton of time (again - and even less this week), so I figured this would be a good week to use a theme from another classic - in this case, it's Bourree in E Minor from JS Bach.

The funny thing is that I was first familiar with this tune from another artist - Jethro Tull. They did a version of this melody in 1969 that I dearly love, and was  my first exposure to Bourree in E Minor. Ian Anderson put a bounce on the tune, but I knew what I wanted to do - it needed to be death-doom metal. Low and slow! Or at least that genre as interpreted by a frog.

Getting this established initially was a bit of a challenge, in that the source material doesn't have chords per se - it's two lines of counterpoint, with the chords being somewhat implied. Makes it a bit difficult for me to do power chords at first! Got there eventually - there seems to be an inflection point when I’m working on these songs - “this sounds awful and I think I bit off more than I can chew” to “ok, this is good”.

After I got the structure going, it was a matter of dropping in some solos. Would have liked to weave them a bit more, but this is what four hours gets you. Done!

2026 Copyright All rights reserved

I'm still feeling the time crunch this week but I dug out my Plinky+ for a little jam and just threw some wild sounds together. It's wonky AF so be forewarned. The drums were added in a DAW after the fact.

2026 CC Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)

I accidentally uploaded a friend of mines Good Morning due to me being in a rush so here is the correct one but I guess that gave me excuse from uploading a rushed half baked song.

2026 CC Attribution Share Alike (BY-SA)

Had fun messing around with the "Vocal Colors" library from Native Instruments. Those "Ha Ya Na Ya Nas" are from that.

2026 CC Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND)

2026 Copyright All rights reserved

Lyrics:

No one likes a liar

No one likes the truth

No one likes a liar

No one likes to listen

› sample‹ sampleI recorded my voice directly from my headphone's microphone to the iPad into Nanoloop

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Weekly poem

"A land far away"

Discernment is a fickle place

Laid waste by fibs and tales

Tales of false truths and half lies

Accepted with wide eyes and naive hearts

And when temptation requests invitation

To the land of discernment

Fortify strength and defense of sense

To clarify and defend sanity of self

Oh so many have befallen the trap of interpretation

Allowing for subtle variation

With weak hearts and frivolous promise

For the liar, the truth is malleable

Be aware of vicinity and clutch reality

In hand, in heart, in head

When in the land

Of discernment

2026 CC Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND)

This week, I did some co-editing (once the director needed another pair of eyes to get it under 11mins) for a short romcom towards submission into a local 30-day filmmaking challenge. This is a 40second cue I composed for the rollerskating/arcade montage toward the end, repurposing existing phrases from my Week 12 & 14 WBs.

2026 CC0 Creative Commons Zero (Public Domain)