Aleksi Pahkala, known for his bands Gim Kordon and The Duplo!, returns with something new and different. Aleksi is a recognised human rights activist, a journalist, DJ and a former music director for Radio Helsinki, as well as tastemaker at the late great Stupido-Shop. Now Pahkala surprises with his new solo project, Local Al and first taste ‘En luovuta’.

Aleksi tells us of the single : “In the midst of all the haste and pressure I wanted to just stop. I sat down with my acoustic guitar by the bedside and started to think about good things in life. Something new was born, Local Al and “En luovuta” (I Don’t Give Up).”

It’s been 20 years since the ‘Summer of 99’ – The Duplo!’s vocoder zeitgeist – Local Al picks up the baton and runs with it in a more serene yet adventurous direction. ‘En luovuta’ brings us vocoder driven pop with a relaxed strum, perfectly primed for the long summer nights. Local Al will deliver three EPs in 2019 for Soliti, the first of which arrives at the end of May.

En luovuta

Local Al publishes a three ep trilogy, with the first ep released today, 31.05.2019. EP1 deals with life and love, the second ep’s themes cover the state of the world and the third ep deals with death, longing, solace and finally love again.

Nämä rannat kuuluvat meille

Selkään puukkoja

Tuolla on vanha kotini

Aleksi Pahkala‘s solo project Local Al will release their second EP on August 30th. The new EP’s first single, ‘Meitä tarkkaillaan’ (out August 16th). With EP2, Pahkala discusses the state of the world from a political and human rights perspective. The first single from the EP, ‘Meitä tarkkaillaan’, takes Pahkala back to the spring of 2017, when the Chinese President Xi Jingping was on a state visit to Finland as part of Finland’s 100th anniversary celebrations. By the time Xi Jingping’s automobile escort was flagged, the Esplanade in Helsinki was filled with China’s red flags. However, one person unfurled a Tibetan flag, which the police denied an appearance and said only red flags were allowed on the Esplanade. The person with the Tibetan flag was asked to move far away from the park, the demonstration criticising China’s human rights had been placed far away from Xi Jingping’s sight. Pahkala happened to be walking on the Esplanade at the time of the incident and filmed the incident on Twitter.