Gris
The music
Gris makes dark and emotional downtempo, ethereal pop-songs with a touch of jazz.
The history
In the fall of 2001 Gris was put together as a trio in Helsinki, after an idea of making emotional and minimal music. After composing a dozen of beautiful songs, Gris decided to make a record right away, because the idea was clear and it needed to be heard.
In the summer of 2002 Gris locked themselves into a studio with the producer Johnny Lee Michaels and started working on the debut album. During the summer lots of singers were auditioned and the right ones for these songs were chosen to perform on the album. The resulting album featured well known solo artists and members of Finnish bands such as Apocalyptica, Quintessence, Electric Sauna, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Dineh and new rising artists. Johnny Lee Michaels co-produced, recorded and mixed the whole session.
Awhile after the debut album new members were added to the band to make live performances possible. Gris grew up to be a six-piece, but it seemed that luck wasn't on their side. It turned out to be a difficult job to find a singer how could interpret all the songs of the album. Many of the musicians changed during the next year and record companies didn´t show any interest towards the band or the debut album, until Next Big Thing finally signed an album deal with them in the summer 2005. After auditioning t he young vocalist Sara Melleri they knew that the band has found a captivating ead singer. Now, after struggling to find the perfect lineup, Gris finally consist of six beautiful hearts with a one determined mind. The highlights of the never commercially released album of 2002 have been reworked, and are released on the album in March 2006 together with 10 new tracks.
