WITH OTTO RISSANEN

London, 2026​

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During this interview, I change seats, place myself in front of another artist and ask him the questions I wish people asked me. Today, I meet with Finnish composer and guitarist Otto Rissanen, who has just released his first solo album, de Construct. 

Otto, tell us about yourself.

I am a Rotterdam-based Finnish composer and guitarist with a background in jazz, pop and rock who has turned into a classical/contemporary composer and interdisciplinary maker. I am particularly interested in human experience in its dark and light aspects, and tend to be stimulated a lot by visual arts. I like to combine contrasting ideas, moods, and aesthetics in my works with a sense of intensity and humour.

Tell us about de Construct, your latest release.

de Construct is my debut album, a sort of “coming-of-age” work mixing avant-garde jazz, minimalism, and electronic music. The album comes from a musical theatre piece with the same name and is a conceptual work with a wide variety of different styles.

How did the project come about?

A couple of years ago I was going through a bit of an existential crisis after I moved to the Netherlands. The shift of environment and influences made me think through who I am and what I want to do in life. These thoughts led me to a psychological and philosophical rabbit hole of the human psyche, and how we craft our identities and behaviour. Eventually, I was so saturated in this search for myself and my artistic expression that I could not help but to put these thoughts in music and performance — hence, I wrote the work.

You have a holistic approach to creating music. Tell us about your creative process, from composing to production.

I typically have some “extra musical” ideas and inspirations which brew in my head for some time. If I feel the need to express these (and a suitable opportunity arises), I start to work on them. Usually I define in my head what it is exactly I want to express and then I start to craft aesthetics that go around it. Through this process I usually know how the finished work will (approximately) appear based on my plans and I start to fill in the blanks — i.e. writing the actual music itself. Although, often things change and alter their shape before they’re fully finished. Then depending on the work, I involve other people in the process for playing, recording, etc or for more creative consulting positions to finish up the work. I like to leave room for improvisation and interpretation of the players, and I usually hand pick my players and write the piece keeping them and their strengths in mind.

What are some of the influences that have shaped de Construct?

de Construct is hugely influenced by films of David Lynch, and music of Steve Reich, Bill Frisell, and a rap group clipping. I was also particularly interested in writings of Carl Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche at the time.

Tell us about the importance of visual aesthetics in your music.

I feel very drawn to the visual in my music. In fact, I think I might be even more visual than an auditive person. I get very inspired by visual arts time and again. Beyond the sound, I often work with theatricality in my works and see the visual and performative aspects as an extension of music.

How do you think modern technologies are shaping the music industry and what do you find exciting about creating music in the 21st century?

I think the rise of AI and other modern technologies will greatly shape (and already do) the music industry as it does for most of the industries. I believe a lot of craftsmanship that is related to tedious tasks becomes obsolete when it is not directly related to performing live. So for example, probably any kind of low to medium budget applied music (eg. music for film, commercials, etc) is in danger. However, parallel to that I believe that any kind of live music will keep its value and become even more appreciated. Also, I believe that the more unique and authentic artistic direction an artist can craft the better they will do as that will separate them from AI music, for example. Anything human made will become like handmade objects are already — a luxury item. In general, I find our times very exciting despite the obvious uncertainty with so many changes happening around us. We will be having so many more tools to try out new things and reflect on the world in ways that we could not think of even just a few years ago. Many things will change but only a few will disappear completely — keeping “old ways” of doing things just requires a bit of creativity for repositioning them to stay relevant (artistically, financially, etc). Exciting times we live in!

So after de Construct what’s next?

We are working on a new album based on Ukrainian painter Kazimir Malevich’s suprematist paintings with a bass clarinet & cello duo. The conceptual idea there is to take the suprematist concept of “not representing anything already existing” and put that into music. I am also working on a solo piccolo flute & electronics piece for a Finnish jazz flutist & saxophone player.

Thanks very much Otto. A last one for the road — one book, one album, one film —, tell us about your latest cultural findings?

I have been reading Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series over the past few months. I find the book quite good even if not my ultimate favourite. However, I find a lot of individual chapters that are absolutely brilliant in it. For example, the upcoming solo piccolo piece will be inspired by one chapter with an entity called Agrajag who has become aware of his reincarnation cycle and found out that in all of its lives, the main character Arthur Dent ends up killing him (without knowing it), and is committed to revenge that to Arthur. I have got back to listening to Maria Schneider and just listened to her album Concert in the Garden which I find an absolute masterpiece. I saw Marty Supreme in the cinema the other day. It was quite an interesting and intense movie about a rising ping pong player in 1950s USA. Definitely worth checking out as it certainly is some food for thought!

Bouncing on Otto’s words, and advising our readers to watch Marty Supreme at the soonest occasion. Read my review of de Construct.