The Sound of Freedom: Inside STEREO, the Electronic Side-Project of Haloo Helsinki’s Masterminds
When a band as massive as Haloo Helsinki!—one of Finland’s most commercially successful pop-rock powerhouses—announces a hiatus, fans usually brace themselves for a quiet period. Instead, in 2019, guitarists and primary songwriters Leo Hakanen and Jere Marttila did something entirely unexpected. Stepping away from stadium-sized rock anthems, they plugged into synthesizers, spun up the DJ decks, and birthed STEREO (stylized as STEREO), an ambitious electronic dance music (EDM) duo designed to push Finnish pop into uncharted territory.
From Arena Rock to Electronic Soundscapes
For over a decade, Hakanen and Marttila had shaped the sound of modern Finnish rock, writing platinum-selling hooks and headlining massive festivals. However, both musicians harbored a long-standing, quiet passion for electronic music production. When Haloo Helsinki! went on a temporary break, the timing aligned perfectly for the duo to step out of their comfort zones.
Rather than treating the project as a casual hobby, they approached STEREO with uncompromising professional rigor. They enlisted world-class mixing talent—including Miles Walker, famed for his work with global superstars like Beyoncé, Coldplay, Rihanna, and Bruno Mars—to give their electronic arrangements an international, ultra-polished sheen.
The Collaborative Spirit: The 00740 Album
STEREO’s defining characteristic wasn’t just its shift in genre, but its collaborative spirit. Their debut studio album, 00740, released in late 2019, operated like a curated cross-section of modern Finnish music. Rather than handling lead vocals entirely on their own, Hakanen and Marttila invited an elite roster of guest artists from across the Finnish spectrum to front their tracks, fusing club beats with distinct vocal identities.
Key highlights and blockbuster collaborations from the project include:
- “Vuosien päästä” (feat. Etta): A massive streaming hit (surpassing tens of millions of plays) that paired infectious electronic production with Etta’s sharp, rhythmic delivery.
- “Sä saat mut palasiksi” (feat. Samu Haber): Combining Haber’s unmistakable, raspy stadium vocals with high-energy dance-pop builds.
- “Woo Woo” (feat. Michael Monroe): A raucous, genre-bending track injecting the legendary Hanoi Rocks frontman’s punk-rock attitude straight into a heavy EDM framework.
- Other notable collaborations: Tracks featuring mainstream heavyweights like Ida Paul & Kalle Lindroth, Sini Yasemin, and Aste.
Bringing the Club to the Festival Stage
STEREO made their live debut in April 2019 at Helsinki’s historic Old Student House (Vanha Ylioppilastalo) before taking their high-energy DJ and live hybrid sets across Finland’s premier summer festival stages. Complete with immersive lighting and heavy bass drops, the live shows proved that Hakanen and Marttila were just as comfortable commanding a dark, throbbing club environment as they were playing open-air rock stages.
Legacy and Cultural Impact
While STEREO was initially conceived as a creative outlet during Haloo Helsinki!’s hiatus—prior to the parent band’s triumphant return to active duty—the project remains a fascinating chapter in contemporary Finnish pop history. It demonstrated that top-tier songwriters are not bound by genre walls.
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