Minna Records have published Takay-Sin’s debut EP 24 October, 2025.
The EP is a tightly woven collection of six songs where Finnish and English lyrics intertwine with charged melodies, carrying the listener from the shadows of giants into a burning grandstand—accompanied by strings, piano, flugelhorn, and harp.
Takay-Sin is the new musical channel and alter ego of Tellervo Kalleinen.
“I desperately need that wondrous union of poetry and melody—both as a listener and as a creator. Songs are an ancient way for us to share even our most elusive human feelings.”
The opening track, Lämmön etsijä (“Seeker of Warmth”), refuses to be cold despite the giants who cast freezing shadows and trade the Earth as a commodity. Eeva Koivusalo’s excellent bass lines, Antti Aimo-Koivisto’s guitars, Saara Viika’s cello, and Julius Valve’s rhythms bring warmth to a world the lyrics portray as indifferent and chilling.
The subtle experience of outsiderness takes shape in Ystävyyden sinfonia (“Symphony of Friendship”), where a wader dares to wade deeper into the sea, following a new companion. Mika Myllari’s distant-sounding flugelhorn, Salla Hakkola’s playful harp, and Saara Viika’s painterly cello conjure the song’s magical soundscape.
In Eikä mikään enää palaa ennalleen (“And Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again”), the song begins with the reluctant rising from bed and quickly grows into a dense moment of irreversible change. The one accustomed to watching from the sidelines awakens to find the grandstand on fire. After Milla Viljamaa’s impassioned piano solo, there’s no turning back.
Kotiinkutsu (“Home Call”) coaxes a restless mind—gone on a journey around the world—to return home for the evening. Chosen as the EP’s lead single, the song’s inviting soundscape, shaped by Mikko Ijäs’s drums along with layered vocal and string harmonies, makes the persuasion hard to resist.
The EP also includes two English-language compositions. Heyday portrays the willingness to go to great lengths for a fleeting sense of fulfillment. The string duet by Sirja Puurtinen and Saara Viika, together with Milla Viljamaa’s grand piano, builds a shimmering sense of anticipation.
I Will Take It From Here is a beautiful and aching song about intergenerational wounds and love. Cello, violin, and piano carry words addressed to a late father with a tone that is sorrowful yet resolute.
Takay-Sin’s self-written songs are lyric-driven compositions that still give generous space to instrumental expression. The overall sound is acoustic and bare, revealing both vulnerability and precision. Kalleinen’s lyrics weave together existential depth with flashes of almost banal imagery. Gentle humor and grave seriousness walk hand in hand throughout the record, as Takay-Sin plays lovingly with the language itself.