With its thunder-and-rain sound effects and “demonic” guitars, “Effigy" was written and recorded with Halloween in mind but it’s also a song about “killing” your ego.

We all have egos for the simple reason that we all need something to make us feel important. This sense of importance can come from religion, work, being attractive or having special talents – really, the list is endless. The problem with egos obviously is that they are fleeting and at the end of the day, rather meaningless. Whoever builds their confidence this way builds it on a very shaky ground.

“Effigy” describes that moment in all our lives, when we realize that we‘ve grown tired of protecting our ego, that moment when we are done worrying about how we appear to others. Rather than wanting to be cool or important, we want to be happy and discover our true identity. And as most literature on this topic points out, to achieve this, we must destroy our egos. Hence, the lyrics:

Effigy is hanging from a tree

A broken man who looks a lot like me

Produced by Janne Saksa and Tommi Tikka, the soundscape of “Effigy” takes its listener on a disturbing Halloween trip where egos are hung and sleeping identities are awakened. Regardless of the progressive flavor of the track, this Tikka/Autio original offers all the familiar trademarks of the group: poignant lyrics, emotive music, and Sixties-flavored vocal harmonies.

The Impersonators came into being after the demise of Finnish pop/rock band Carmen Gray in 2013 when Tommi Tikka, the other half of Carmen Gray’s songwriting team, joined forces with lyricist Antti Autio to write some new songs.

While Carmen Gray had recorded for major labels, such as Sony and Warner, the Impersonators’ story was going to be different from the get-go. With this particular group, Tikka wanted to have complete artistic control over the songs he recorded to avoid generic and sterile production typical for modern pop/rock.

For quite a while, Tikka auditioned musicians for the new group. However, after three failed attempts to put together a lineup that did justice to the new songs, he decided to make The Impersonators a group of two songwriters rather than a group of four or five musicians. Hence began the search for a great producer rather than the right musicians.

Finally, in early 2017, Tikka teamed up with Janne Saksa, a seasoned professional in making records, who became Tikka’s collaborator in the studio and took over the head producer’s reins from him. Together, they’ve arranged and produced the group’s two previous singles “You Are The One” and “Burning Blue.”

The best way to describe the sound of The Impersonators is to call it Sixties-flavored “alternative pop/rock”. Their goal is to nurture and cultivate the creativity, spirit, and warmth that graced the pop records of yesteryears.

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