Often inspiration comes to me in very peculiar situations. I got the idea of Cherry Lips in a movie theatre when I was watching The American Reunion with my fiancée. Although that series of movies is pretty basic American fuss, it’s still funny and in some way nostalgic to me. Perhaps, in some parallel universe, those movies would tell about my youth. Anyway, I sat there watching the movie and in my mind travelled back to my own youth; to the fun trips, parties and blunders with friends, and my first crushes. I felt I was almost dreaming and that’s when the melody started playing in my head. I subconsciously noticed the dress my fiancée was wearing; its base colour of sand dunes with cherries on it. Suddenly in my imagination I was in the desert under the red hot sunshine, and that image of me had an image of cherry lips which help the thirsty wanderer onwards in the hot desert. So, eventually, the melody that originated in comedy ended up with a completely different mental landscape and mood with its lyrics. Mind is a funny ‘creature’ at times.
We rearranged Cherry Lips in the studio with the sound engineer/mixing engineer/producer Heikki Marttila. This new version took the song even more to the desert, to delirious, nearly western-like atmosphere. It actually took on a new dimension, which makes it much better suited to the overall theme of the album. Now there are among the delirious wandering elements of hopeful dreaming of finding a safe oasis. Now, in my imagination, the wanderer walks in the destroyed world in search of a new place where to make a fresh start, and where those cherry lips quench his thirst; a place where it’s good to be.
Hewey – Fragile Dream