The turning point for singer-songwriter Jon Eden, aka The Fisherman – a son of both the Finnish island of Hailuoto and the German port of Hamburg – came when struck with pneumonia in late 2016 and being constrained to both his and hospital beds for several weeks. It hit home with him that there wasn't a magical moment in space and time when all the stars would align and mark the perfect moment to kickstart his musical journey with The Fisherman & The Sea.
So he kicked all his lofty plans of saving up enough money to record in a state of the art studio with an engineer and producer as well as a fully fleshed out band to the curb. Instead he went the exact opposite direction when he realized that with the Loota cajón drum set he could record all of the instruments right there in his bedroom.
After half a year of getting the sound of The Fisherman & The Sea just right he finally released the first EP recorded in his bedroom 'Beggar Princess' to the world, thereby fulfilling a personal dream he'd had since he first picked up a guitar as a teenager and written his first song: to appear alongside his musical heroes like Elliott Smith, Foo Fighters and Mumford & Sons on the iTunes Store, on Spotify and the likes.
But what came after fulfilling his dream was something he hadn't anticipated; the EP took up a momentum of its own. Industry site NoiseTrade.com featured the EP as 'New & Notable' on its front page for a whole week, the songs started to get played on indie radio stations and suddenly the songs he'd recorded in his bedroom earned him nominations for "Best Alternative Song" at the International Acoustic Music Awards and "Best International Band" at the Los Angeles Music Critic Awards. [More media coverage on our PRESS page.]
When The Fisherman & The Sea released their second EP 'Stuck With A Rhyme' in December 2017 Jon Eden had already formed a band with Tuukka Kauppinen and Karza Härkönen – both of them longtime friends and bandmates from previous projects – as well as new recruit Joel Himanen. And while they didn't play their first gig as a four-piece until June of 2018 they'd nonetheless started to build an enthusiastic live following in their native Helsinki gigging as a trio with Karza and Joel switching on drumming duties.
Between gigging and continuing their slow but steady grassroots growth – with their Youtube cover series 'A Sea of Heroes' for example – they'd started work on their third EP 'I Can't Alone' in early 2018. Jon Eden wanted the third EP to be something special, a communal experience of sorts, so he invited all of his musical compatriots and friends to participate. So in addition to the first appearance of his bandmates on The Fisherman & The Sea's records, the EP released on August 30th also features notable appearances by Ireland's Heroes in Hiding's Joe Carroll, Emppu Suhonen of Tiktak, Alavala and Dame fame, New York-based singer-songwriter Oskari Nurminen, rising soul singer Sanna K. and many more. A true labour of love and community LA Music Critic's Bob Leggett found that "[the band] have created some of the best indie rock music from the international community, and are a shining beacon to the rest of their community that America is listening, and is ready for them to make a solid attack on our American radio scene."
On the coattails of their new EP The Fisherman & The Sea are playing their first small headlining slots at the Rööperifest and Superwood Festivals in Helsinki while at the same time laying their finishing touches on their debut album 'The Hurt & The Humour'.
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© Nani Annette
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Our to-the-point Youtube calling card.
Hurry 2:57
Stuck With A Rhyme 3:15
The Fairytale Waltz 4:12
Beggar Princess 3:33
The Undertaker 5:49
A Song For The Hills 5:31
Skinny Dip 4:31
Ugly 3:42
Homesick 3:57
LIfe In The Service Of Others 3:58
Ugly (GRINNA remix) 3:25
Naive (feat. Emppu Suhonen) 4:29
Reptile I (feat. Sanna K.) 3:04
A Man With No Dance 4:00
Marina 5:47