Meet Haven, a Finnish girlband that combines pop music with some classical elements into a unique mixture.
The band was started by Niina in 2004, right after she finished high school. Haven consists of Minna (vocals), Pieta (cello), Riikka (violin) and Niina herself (piano & vocals). It was clear right from the start that the strings would be an essential aspect of Haven since Niina had always loved the sound, the passion and the emotions they are able to produce.
After getting together the girls spent one year writing songs and rehearsing before they finally had their first gig in Tapiola, an experience that put a spark in the band and a desire to do more. Since then the girls have played at every occasion that has presented itself – from weddings to garden parties to own gigs. A real highlight came in the year 2007 when Haven came second in the Ääni & Wimma band competition in Gloria Club, Helsinki. This whole story truly had a fairytale like ring to it because in the year before the girls had been in the audience themselves discussing how cool it must be to actually take part in the event. One year later that dream already became true.
Producer Antti Eronen was in the audience, heard Haven and approached the girls afterwards offering to produce an EP for them. From that point on Antti has not only made the EP possible but offered valuable guidance to the band.
Niina’s musical influences stretch over a broad field and she takes influences from everything she hears, therefore mixing all styles from rock to classical. One of her constant sources of musical inspiration has been Björk. However, Niina thinks that the important thing in music is not the influences but the emotions that the songs arouse. Therefore when composing she considers what emotions she would like to express in that particular piece and then figures out musical ways to do so. When Haven was started Niina was the only one composing and arranging songs as well as writing lyrics. As time went by also the other band members, especially the cellist Pieta, have gotten more and more involved in the process, so that nowadays there are several songs with lyrics or arrangements not done by Niina herself.
Due to the many different elements found in Haven’s music it is hard to put them in one category and one category only. While the strings do play indeed a big part in the songs Haven is by far not a classical ensemble, they also embrace modern elements out of pop culture. Songwriter Niina herself is happy with a simple term: experimental pop music.
