Robert Linna turns old ideas into his solo debut

Musician Robert Linna has released his first solo album, drawing on song ideas he says date back as far as a decade, ERR reported in an interview on Vikerraadio. He said a musician’s creative drawer can be full of material, but every song has its own time.

Linna said he had been thinking about making a solo record for around ten years, partly because he wanted to play all the instruments himself. Some of the ideas on the album, titled “Tabamata ime” (“The Elusive Wonder”), had been around for years.

The title came to him one morning while he was half asleep, as he was still working on lyrics for a few songs. He later remembered that it was also the title of a play by Vilde. After watching a television adaptation, he said he saw the play as timeless and relevant to the lives of musicians and artists today.

Last year, Linna decided to record a song as a gift for his wife and wanted to test whether he could handle the technical side himself. The recording worked out, and the song reached the Eesti Laul final.

Linna and his family moved to the countryside four years ago. When driving alone, he often listens to old demos, including ideas recorded on a crackling voice recorder, to see whether anything still speaks to him.

He said he does not use artificial intelligence in his creative work. For him, the imperfections in how instruments are played are part of what makes music feel human and organic. He described the solo album as entirely handmade.