Pennies by the Pound: Album of the Week

photo by Martin Brown

Pennies by the Pound has a beautiful concept album, Nothingside, that has been chosen as the Album of the Week.

The Progressive/indie art rock band from Helsinki, Finland, was formed in 2017 by Johannes Susitaival and Vesa Ranta. The Pennies by the Pound lineup is rounded out with Tomi Laaksonen and Alexander Meaney.

“This album is an abstract story about politics, failed love and the irredeemable bad choices one tends to make in life. I’m not too keen to open it up any further. I’m hoping that keeping it quite open-ended more people can try to fit what’s inside their heads into the framework of the story. But, there’s three people involved in it, who interact with each other at different times but at the same place – the village, which is the birthplace of all three. And due to circumstances and things happening in the outside world, the village isn’t doing that great at the moment,” says frontman Johannes Susitaival.

Their music does remind me of early Genesis with Peter Gabriel – not Genesis with Phil Collins. Honestly, I am going down a rabbit hole of the changes within Genesis. My parents were not into progressive rock there is a learning curve.

I would recommend the album to anyone who enjoys progressive or psychelic rock, like early Genesis, Rush or even Yes. Nothingside is a concept album, which is in a special category. Concept albums tell so much more of the story than standalone singles. Plus, you hear new things each time you play the album.

My favorite songs on the album are “The End Times” and “One Bitter Kiss.” The next time that I hear the album, I might love a totally different set of songs.

The ‘Nothingside’ LP is out now, available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. On Bandcamp, the album may be obtained directly from the artist, along with some awesome merch.