I had always wanted to create a piece of music like “Land of Youth & Beauty”: dreamlike, lulling, and eternal — something that feels timeless and special and that could go on forever, something you could dream or fall asleep with.

It became possible for me to do this only when I had gathered enough awareness in all the necessary areas, especially regarding chords, chord changes, and chord voicings. And the specific opportunity to create this piece came along when I needed music for the “Lake Presentation” video of my first book of poetry, Land of Youth & Beauty: Early Poems. You can watch it on YouTube (youtu.be/dJsebeCnTKQ) or on my website (simosakariaaltonen.com/writing).

It was inspired by a vision of a book in a lake, and you can see this vision — which happened on camera when I had no book with me — in the video itself.

Then later, when I did have my book with me to film the rest of the video, the vision miraculously happened again when the book was also in the shot. Things couldn’t have worked out more magically. In one shot there’s sunlight shimmering on the water above the vision.

There are no special effects in this video — everything happened on camera. So nature itself both gave me the idea for the video and then helped me all along the way while making it.

The origins of the title of this piece and my book of poetry go back to a game called Serena (2014), for which I was one of the writers. In addition to writing dialogue and a couple of letters, I also created a four-verse poem called “Oisín and Niamh”, based on a Celtic legend. The mortal poet Oisín falls in love with the otherworldly Niamh and goes with her to the Celtic otherworld, Tír na nÓg, beyond the western sea.

This place has been called, for example, the Land of Youth, the Land of Beauty, and different variations of these. When I came across this legend when deciding on the topic for the poem — as I’ve discussed on my podcast What Now with Simo and in Early Poems — it suddenly struck me that the Land of Youth & Beauty (this being my personal chosen variant of the name) can be seen as a metaphor for the state of being in love and being loved in return. Both must be true.

You enter a magic circle of happiness that makes you feel young and beautiful — when you’re in love and feel loved in return, you always feel young and beautiful — and outside that magic circle, time passes more quickly than you realise. And if or when you fall or are cast out of that magic circle, you return to a world that has moved on, with people you knew now older or even no longer living.

The music needed to reflect not only this timeless magic circle in which we may be fortunate enough to spend the happiest, most dreamlike moments of our lives but also the likewise timeless, endless undulations of lakes and seas.

To accomplish this, the music uses some of my favourite musical voices — glass harmonica, flute, female choir, and double bass — flowing and fluctuating naturally and with infinite variety, fading in and out of prominence like waves. No other instruments or voices are used.

With music, every chord, chord change, and chord voicing can open a new door to something in your imagination and emotionally. With endless instrumental colours also available, infinite richness and variety flow into each of these.

My first album, Passages Dark and Light (simosakariaaltonen.bandcamp.com/album/passages-dark-and-light), was born when I wanted to create a piece focusing almost exclusively on what can be achieved with chord changes: what moods and reactions can come about via them. Originally it was going to feature just a single instrument, a tack piano, but eventually that music evolved into something more as ideas and inspirations sparked along the way.

And then later I continued this exploration of the power of the basic elements of music with “Land of Youth & Beauty”. It’s important to me not to do what I’ve come to think of as “juggling”: flourishes or effects in music and other forms of art that aren’t necessary and that can detract from the natural, unforced flow.

I mentioned that this piece could go on forever. This is true because there are infinite combinations of notes, chords, chord voicings, chord changes, fluctuations, and melodic graces possible. So in order to extend this music, it would only be necessary to keep making new choices for each of these things.

The book Land of Youth & Beauty, in which you can also find the poem “Oisín and Niamh”, is available on Amazon as a hardcover and an ebook. The game Serena is free on Steam (store.steampowered.com/app/272060/Serena/).

I hope you may enjoy this, my first single, and here’s to the most special moments of our lives — the Land of Youth & Beauty.

—Simo Sakari Aaltonen