Music For Roads – the collaborative all-instrumental album by Helsinki-based jazz trumpet virtuoso Verneri Pohjola and indie folk band Tuomo & Markus – is out in North America now via Schoolkids Records/Redeye Distribution. The album was released in Finland in February 2025, hitting #5 on the Finnish album chart.
With the haunting, David Lynch-inspired "Deep Deuce" focus track, the musicians confess that their new music was designed for movie screens from the get-go.
“The original working title for the album was Music For Road Movies”, keyboard player Tuomo Prättälä recalls and then jokes: “If our previous album Game Changing was our Breaking Bad, Music For Roads would be our Better Call Saul – a more slow-paced spin-off set in the same universe!”
Cinematic American landscape inspired the soundscape of the new album, which is a unique blend of Nordic jazz, indie folk and psychedelic desert music.
“We love American culture and landscape, but obviously perceive it from a Nordic point-of-view. As much as we drew inspiration from American giants like the Grateful Dead, Gil Evans or Miles Davis, we couldn’t escape our European heritage and Finnish melancholy”, guitarist Markus Nordenstreng ponders.
While Brian Eno composed his ambient classic Music For Airports for air travelers, the Finns created their new compelling instrumentals for the road-tripper stuck at home. The Music For Roads journey began amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down the world and made international touring impossible. In March 2020, Tuomo & Markus were set to start a European tour with Jonathan Wilson, but the tour was obviously scrapped.
“Suddenly, we had a lot of time on our hands, so that’s how this project started. And just when we thought the worst was over, the war in Ukraine broke out, less than 1000 miles away from our hometown. We needed an escape from all the madness. Since it was impossible to make physical road trips to America at the time, we decided to create a virtual one.”
Thematically, Music For Roads could be viewed as a homecoming of sorts for Tuomo & Markus, who’ve had a deep connection to North America since the start of their career. The band recorded their debut album Dead Circles (2018) in Tucson AZ with help from various Calexico and Wilco members. Their critically acclaimed sophomore album Game Changing (2023) was recorded at Jonathan Wilson’s studio in Los Angeles and the late Ed Ackerson’s Flowers Studio in Minneapolis, featuring guests like NYC-guitar legend Marc Ribot who also appears on ‘Music For Roads’.
Verneri Pohjola, meanwhile, is one of Europe’s top jazz artists. Pohjola was recently nominated for Nordic Council Music Prize and his skills far exceed jazz. Multi Grammy-winner, Finnish contemporary music giant Kaija Saariaho, who died in 2023, composed her last piece Hush specifically for Pohjola’s trumpet. Hush had its US debut at LA’s Disney Hall in February 2025 with LA Phil and Pohjola as its guest soloist. Pohjola joined Tuomo & Markus live line-up in 2017, making appearances with the band at events like Solid Sound Festival, SXSW, Rochester International Jazz Festival, and EuroJazz Festival in Mexico City.
“My collaboration with Tuomo & Markus was based on musical inspiration. I have a strong connection to rock music. Melodies and imaginative sounds are close to my heart, and this project has been a great outlet for this part of my musical personality”, Verneri Pohjola says.
Immersive audio technology provided an extra layer for Music For Roads. Before the band started tracking the album, Finnish studio monitor manufacturer Genelec had assembled a state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos rig at the studio.
“We were like mad scientists, and we really didn’t know what the hell we were doing. But as the album process went along, this technology turned out a great source of inspiration. Since most of the performances were cut live with the whole 7-piece band in the same room, the immersive environment really became the most natural way to present this music to the world,” Markus Nordenstreng emphasizes.
Instead of going fully digital, the musicians decided to utilize the studio’s vintage Studer 2” tape machine to process the new music. All the Music For Roads tracks were recorded, mixed, and mastered onto tape, making it the world’s first analog Dolby Atmos master recording. For those who still prefer stereo recordings, there will be a limited vinyl and CD release available.
www.tuomomarkus.com www.verneripohjolamusic.com | 
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