Von Hertzen Brothers used the enforced solitude of the last two years to work on their grand and poignant eighth album, which might just be their masterpiece. Mikko Von Hertzen reveals how the Finns raised their Red Alert In The Blue Forest.

Words: Grant Moon

Von Hertzen Brothers: Kie, Jonne and Mikko.

Images: Rami Mursula

“The ‘Blue Forest’ idea has to do with something we feel we’re about to lose, or have lost already. It’s not an actual forest, but also, it kind of is.”

For more than two decades Mikko Von Hertzen has spent part of the year at his apartment in Kerala, on the southwest coast of India. When the pandemic kicked off in 2020, most commercial airlines were grounded, and he was stranded. His usual seven-week stay turned into five months, so he wiled away the time writing songs.

Meanwhile, back in the Von Hertzens’ native Finland, his elder brother Kie did some hardcore social distancing of his own. He threw his acoustic guitar into his canoe and paddled over to the island of Söderskär in the Finnish Gulf, south of Helsinki. There he camped out, took stock of things, and also wrote.

“When you’re in that mindset,” Mikko tells Prog, “and in that space, you don’t feel like writing rock songs. The mood around you dictates the energy of what you want to write. And the energy is very different with this album. Because of the pandemic, we had time to go deeper into the songs. We’ve done some really punchy rock records, but this one’s more introspective. It’s a different level, but I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing! It’s good, I hope.”

In fact, it’s a great thing. Their eighth LP, Red Alert In The Blue Forest could well be their masterpiece. The rock and pop smarts that sealed their reputation across Europe are here, but there’s a new, more expansive and – yes – progressive feel to this double album. There’s even more complexity in the writing, extra attention to the arrangements and a broadened palette of instrumental colours. Previous strutting albums like Nine Lives, New Day Rising, and their last release, 2017’s War Is Over, are good records. But this feels like one for the ages.