Samuli Laiho | Fiction "Topliner is a smooth firstborn." Keskisuomalainen
© Ville Malja / Like
An artist's novel diving behind the scenes of the international music business, were Scandinavian pop writing meets the international scene. Matias Heininen, a songwriter who has left his jazz pianist career behind to write songs for pop stars, desperately hopes for a breakthrough, while the situation with a newborn creates pressure and his family life suffers. In search for a better life and greater collaboration opportunities, Matias moves to Berlin. The tensions between a ripping family life, a decadent lifestyle, the use of drugs and a profession that requires travel, is driving middle-aged Matias to the point of collapse. Experiencing his own mortality during the Fukushima earthquake in Japan marks a turning point in his life, and Matias finds balance in meditation.
Topliner (Topliner) 331 pages | First published in Finnish by Like in 2018
"Laiho builds a credible story about a lost musician who is eventually forced to figure out what he fundamentally loves about music. And about life.”
Turun Sanomat
"This debut makes a lot of promises for the future."
Kaleva
Topliner closely describes the life and machinery of the insiders of the pop industry who build tomorrow’s stars. This debut novel is also a story about alienation, fatherhood, and life on the brink. Fans of High Fidelity and Bill Flanigan’s A&R will enjoy this read.
SAMULI LAIHO (b. 1969) is a Helsinki-based author, accomplished songwriter, musician and producer who launched his career as a guitarist of the band Hearthill at the end of the 1980's. Among others, Laiho has written songs for big Japanese bands and his songs were awarded numerous international prizes. In 2016 a japanese music producer asked me to arrange Disney classics for musical toilet seats. I decided that it was time to do something else. Two years later my first novel TOPLINER was published.
“Laiho has got the ability to weave a bigger story and doesn’t subordinate the musician to a personal description. The reading experience is followed by thoughts, and I could imagine the novel to be of interest to many readers to whom the music business is a completely foreign taboo. A promising debut."
Riff
"I absorb insanely interesting insider information about the making of pop songs from this novel."
Kotiliesi 13
