GHOST TOWN SOUL / LYRICS

THE VIOLENCE OF SILENCE
IS FILLING MY MIND TONIGHT

I ́M WATCHING AND WAITING

FOR TIME TO PUT OUT THE FIRE

CAN ́T YOU SEE ME
SOMEONE HELP ME
THE LONGER IT TAKES
THE HARDER IT IS TO BREATH

HELLO
I ́ M FEELING SO ALONE
SIDE BY SIDE BUT IN YOUR ZONE
LIES AN INVISIBLE FORTRESS MADE OF STONE

HOW LONG WILL I BE
A COMPLETE GHOST TOWN SOUL
CUZ IN YOUR ZONE
LIES AN INVISIBLE FORTRESS MADE OF STONE

THE CEILING IS DAUNTING
AND THE WALLS ARE FALLING ON ME

CAN ́T SEE THE ACTION OR RETRACTION

CAUSE AND EFFECT OR AM I BLIND

CAN ́T YOU SEE ME
SOMEONE HELP ME
THE LONGER IT TAKES
THE HARDER IT IS TO BREATH

HELLO
I ́ M FEELING SO ALONE
SIDE BY SIDE BUT IN YOUR ZONE
LIES AN INVISIBLE FORTRESS MADE OF STONE HOW LONG WILL I BE
A COMPLETE GHOST TOWN SOUL
CUZ IN YOUR ZONE
LIES AN INVISIBLE FORTRESS MADE OF STONE

FLAVOUR (THAT I FAVOUR) / LYRICS

I WAS ON A WALK 

DOWN THE STREET

LOOKING AT THE DINER WHERE WE USE TO MEET 

SECRETLY

NOW MY LIFE 

IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE

YOUR HOMEMADE MEAL IS A GIFT TO ME 

HONESTLY

YOU´RE THE FLAVOUR THAT I FAVOUR 

THE EVER SWEETEST THING IN MY LIFE

MY SPICY ROYAL HIGHNESS THAT´S THE TASTE THAT I REALLY LIKE

YOU´RE THE FLAVOUR THAT I FAVOUR

THE EVER SWEETEST THING IN MY LIFE

LATE LUNCH OR SACRED SUPPER

PROMISE I´LL EAT YOU UP ALIVE

PART OF ME 

KNOWS THAT THE RECIPE

IS LOVE TIMES HUNGER AND THAT´S SOME SCIENCE AND CHEMISTRY

STILL I BELIEVE 

THAT MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING

AND THE OUTCOME IS THAT I CRAVE FOR YOU

CONSTANTLY

I WILL NEVER FIND 

ANOTHER LIKE YOU 

WHO BRINGS ME SUN THROUGH THE TEMPEST

I WILL NEVER TRY

SOME ANOTHER KIND

THERE´LL BE NO ONE SWEETER OR TENDER

YOU´RE THE FLAVOUR THAT I FAVOUR 

THE EVER SWEETEST THING IN MY LIFE

MY SPICY ROYAL HIGHNESS THAT´S THE TASTE THAT I REALLY LIKE

YOU´RE THE FLAVOUR THAT I FAVOUR

THE EVER SWEETEST THING IN MY LIFE

LATE LUNCH OR SACRED SUPPER

PROMISE I´LL EAT YOU UP ALIVE

HERE I AM

Here I Am.

 F i n a l l y. This song is out. 

I wrote it already late in the year 2004 and has lived a life on its own in many ways and in many places. At the time I remember walking heartbroken on the streets of Helsinki in ice cold rain and feet soaking in the wet snow. Not the most pleasant memories. But life is life and that´s how it goes sometimes :) The song was also played on some gigs at the time. And also an early demoversion was on my MySpace account since 2005 and then somebody ripped it from there to Youtube a few years later. Fast forward to this day…

It’s been ready for a release for quite some time already and actually the making of it started on the very same day I established my Instagram-account. Which my good friend and producer-partner-in-crime J. Backlund encouraged me to do it. And even took the first photo ever released on the account. (Btw I couldn’t start the account with my own name because there were already some accounts under the same name, which is weird ’cos I believe that in the world population of almost 8 billion there is not a single person with the same name🤓. So that is the real story behind the account name ”Rickriku”. I somehow remember that IG itself came up with that name in the suggestions or something😁)

The song itself is almost in the age of an adult now when it is released. This version revisited a metamorphosis to a bit more of a modern direction which I think suits the song itself and serves the overall ambient mood really well. I wanted to change the clothes a bit but keep the core same. Although I know that the song’s previous demoversion has already lived a life of its own in the real world for many many years. And it has been meaningful to many people which is the most amazing feedback what a songwriter can get. ❤️🙏 And as time goes by I guess there will be different versions of it as well. And why not make your own one as well, if you feel like! ;)

Although the song’s story is about broken love it is known that time will heal and things will eventually get better as time goes by. And now that the last two years’ social distancing is luckily more out of the fashion and the restrictions are finally getting looser I think and hope nobody should feel too alone. I also wish that this song and other songs and music could reach and help people in the most acute problems what the world has encountered now in the really recent days <3

Peace. Take care of yourselves and the people around you!

Stay safe, healthy and tuned! -RR

SAFETY PIN / lYRICS

I CAN ́T WAIT TO GET OVER

I CAN ́T WAIT TO MOVE ON

STILL A PART OF ME FEELS A LITTLE GUILTY

FOR THINGS I HAVEN’T DONE

THE SUN AIN’T READY FOR RISING

STILL MY EYES THEY SEE THE DAY

I COULD NOT SLEEP ANY LONGER

BECAUSE I’M SLIGHTLY TORN APART

I CAN ́T FLOAT IN THE ABSENCE

TEAR MY EYES FROM THE PAST

NOW I’M SURE THAT THE AIM IS TO CURE

AND THE FUTURE´S BRIGHT AHEAD

MY HEAD IS HEAVY AND ACHING

AND THE SHEETS ARE SOAKING WET

I WASN ́T AWARE OF THE MOMENT UNFAIR

THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF MY LIFE

WHEN LIFE HITS YOU HARD

KNOWING YOU MIGHT FALL APART

THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO

A SAFETY PIN CAN´T HELP YOU, IN YOUR HEART

I CAN ́T WAIT TO GET OVER

I CAN ́T WAIT TO MOVE ON

STILL A PART OF ME FEELS A LITTLE GUILTY

FOR THINGS I HAVEN’T DONE

NO REGRETS NO WORRIES

NO NEED TO APOLOGISE

SOMEBODY´S HURTING THE SOMEONE WHO HURTS

THAT ́S HOW THE STORY GOES

MY AMERICAN DREAM / Lyrics

SOME

SOME DAYS ARE HARDER

HARDER THAN OTHERS

I HEARD THAT TIME WILL CLEAN AND HEAL THE WOUNDS

I TRIED ALL THE TRICKS

WENT AWAY SWAM DEEP

TO KEEP THOUGHTS OF YOU AT BAY

UNINTENTIONALLY AND SUBCONSCIOUSLY

GUESS I´M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU

WANNA FEEL

A LOVE THAT´S REAL

IF PAIN IS THE PRIZE

IS IT WORTH THIS PRICE I DON´T KNOW

WANNA REACH

MY AMERICAN DREAM

YOU

YOU BRING BACK MEMORIES

A REMINDER OF HEARTACHE

TIME WON´T STOP YOU CREEPING BACK

I´VE TRIED MY BEST

KEPT MY HEART IN MY CHEST

I WISH COULD FORGET AND MOVE ON

HOWEVER I TRY THE VOICES INSIDE SAY

I´M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU

WANNA FEEL

A LOVE THAT´S REAL

IF PAIN IS THE PRIZE

IS IT WORTH THIS PRICE I DON´T KNOW

WANNA REACH MY AMERICAN DREAM IF PAIN IS THE PRIZE

IS IT WORTH THIS PRICE I DON´T KNOW

LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR THE BAD THOUGHTS

I REALLY SHOULD AVOID THAT

AND WHEN MY LAST BREATH ESCAPES ME

I KNOW IT WILL WHISPER YOUR NAME

My american dream

In the cover of the new release it is little me as a kid on my dear and most precious grandparents (rip❤️) lawn in Mänttä, Finland banging on some really specially customized drums. Looong time ago..😅

Some weeks ago I suddenly remembered this photo from the childhood as I was thinking what to do about the cover. I don’t know what kind of fate or something it was but the idea struck me like a lightning on the sauna terrace and I thought it might suit. After some digging and searching the photo was finally found and a cover was made out of it. In some funny way it resembles some sort of a dream come true. Little did I know that after all the years and decades I’d be playing music (and also banging the drums mostly for fun but apparently on some recordings also😉). Actually, I never really played anything before later in the secondary school. And basically, maybe that is kind of a personal ethos of an American Dream as pursuing ones dreams and have the liberty and to be free to do so. Also the song title was a kind of a work name for a really long time but somehow it got stuck there in the end. I realized that maybe it suits the idea of being free and pursuing the dreams. Especially during the last a couple of years for me the title has had a somewhat provocative tone regarding ”America” so it took time and some personal approval to get used to it. And to be honest, I have never even been to US yet so it’s kind of funny thing as well..🤓

Take care and enjoy the moments of the late Summer! Stay true, stay healthy and stay tuned!❤️

-RR

half broken heart / Lyrics

THERE WAS A GIRL ONCE UPON TIME

SHE BROKE HER HEART AND CRIED

THEN SHE MOVED ON WITH HER LIFE

WITH A HALF BROKEN HEART INSIDE

IT´S ONLY LOVE THAT EVER MATTERS 

THERE´S NO QUESTION ABOUT IT

THERE´S ONLY ONE TRUTH

WITH A HALF BROKEN HEART

YOU CAN ONLY SAVE THE LITTLE PART 

THAT´S LEFT THERE FOR YOU

THERE WAS A BOY ONCE UPON A TIME

HE JUST TRIED TO LIVE HIS LIFE

THE BOY HAD PRIDE BUT WAS SAD INSIDE

´COS LOVE BEAT HIM UP WITH OUT A FIGHT

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THINGS WHERE BETTER THAN FINE

THEY HAD LOVE AND GAVE EACH OTHER TIME

LOVE IS BLIND NOT EASY TO GUIDE

AND SOMETIMES SO HARD TO FIND

Half broken heart

Hello! 

Well, to start with something I must admit that this is another pretty important and meaningful day in my musical life since the first release 11 weeks ago. And I feel really good! 🤗

I don’t know why but this song’s history reminds me somehow of a butterfly with it’s different phases. #metamorphosis

It was somewhere around 2005-2006 or so and I think I had the song already quite ready as a scruffy demo but as a totally different kind of a version. Yet I guess most of the puzzle pieces were there in a way and I kinda knew it.

At the time life wasn’t that OK or let’s say that at least there were some turbulence in life’s different divisions and the ride was a bit bumpy what it comes to professional and private lives occasions. And that´s life and so be it.🤠

Well, many things happened both in private and professional lives and the song was left there and got buried with a loads of stuff, time and endless amount of other priorities and activities.

Then the Spring 2020 came and life was all of a sudden different on many levels. I suddenly remembered this song ’cos once in a while during all the years I had bumped onto the old demo. I had always liked it a lot and now decided to give it some more care and attention.

And after some serious CPR and heavy use of a defibrillator it truly came alive as an old piece of music in a totally new form. Don’t know why but somehow I knew immediately that I was on the right track. So here we are now and it is out there spreading its wings.

❤️🙏🤗

Take care and enjoy the Spring!! -RR

Ps. Check out the song and spread the news if you already haven’t! 😉

https://halfbrokenheart.lnk.to/28HTbOzU

https://ansp.org/exhibits/online-exhibits/butterflies/lifecycle/

#12022021

Well, I don ́t even know where to start. But thanks for reading at least this far. Hehe ;D

The whole journey to this day has been so long that even I don ́t know where is the actual starting point or where to begin counting. In some symbolic way, it could be the day somewhere in 1989 when I had gotten my first nylon-string guitar, then gradually learned the first few chords and wrote my first song. As far as I ́ve been playing and practising I have also made songs, from psychedelic prog-rock to fusion jazz and etnofolk to contemporary pop. But I have never released anything under my own name until this day. I don ́t know whether it is good or bad thing that I ́ve had come so far for that. But in my opinion I could say that it is more a positive thing. And I somehow believe that there is a time for everything. But anyways, here I am and we are here. :D

This song Painless Love (at least in some form) was basically written already somewhere ten years ago and I always thought there is something good. At least something that I liked and something that resonated in me. But it took quite a long process until this day. And via my homestudio, a studio in Copenhagen and a studio in Helsinki the final form finally saw the daylight at a mastering studio in Espoo January 2021.

My deepest thanks to each one of you being interested, involved and for staying tuned! <3 There will be more. :)

PAINLESS LOVe / Lyrics

I WAS LOST IN A MOMENT

WHEN I SAW YOUR PRETTY FACE

IT FELT LIKE A WARM EMBRACE

WITHOUT THE TIME AND PLACE

THE WORLD WHICH WE´RE LIVING IN 

ON THE DOWNSIDE OF THE SLOPES

I JUST DON´T KNOW IF YOU ARE THERE

WITH THE SAME HIGH HOPES

AND I KNOW I WILL GO TO THE END

THE END OF THE WORLD FOR YOU

WILL BE HARD CALL THE CARDS SURE 

BUT I AM A HOPELESSLY ROMANTIC FOOL

I´VE BEEN LOST IN TIME AND SPACE

SINCE I SAW YOUR PRETTY FACE

THE FUTURE´S GREY THE PAST FLOATS AWAY

I TRY TO STAY AWAKE

HAVEN´T FOUND A WAY BACK TO YOU

BUT STILL I TRY TO RETRACE ´COS I

HAVEN´T FOUND A WAY BACK TO YOU

AND I KNOW I WILL GO TO THE END

THE END OF THE WORLD FOR YOU

WILL BE HARD CALL THE CARDS SURE 

BUT I AM A HOPELESSLY ROMANTIC FOOL

TO LOVE IS AN EASY VERB 

BUT HARD THING IS TO MAKE IT WORK

AND I KNOW I WILL GO TO THE END

´COS OF PAINLESS LOVE I´VE NEVER HEARD

I WISH YOU COULD FEEL MY LOVE 

EVEN THOUGH WE ARE APART

´COS YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS 

AND YOU´RE THE MISSING PART