15.04.2026 / Maria Gribanova
no music no life / music blog: rock and metal

Counting Lifeboats is a Finnish indie duo. Long-time friends Niko Moilanen and Topi Kilpinen formed the project in 2012. Even after so many years, the band hasn’t released a full album, only singles. At the moment, only five songs are officially available on Spotify — they were released in 2019-2020, and the earlier material has been removed.

Niko’s work in Blind Channel, where he’s a vocalist and songwriter, took up all his time between 2021 and 2024. However, in 2025-2026, while the band is on a break, Niko and Topi returned to Counting Lifeboats. On March 30, they released the song The Trains, The Planes, The Ships as a reel on Instagram, and on April 2, a full album film Act 1: Soulétude was released on YouTube. It became available on streaming services today, April 15.

The title of the project caught my attention immediately. At the beginning of the video, there is a note explaining it. The word Soulétude consists of two parts: soul — the spirit or essence of a person, and étude — an artwork made in order to practise. This already shows what we can expect: several artworks full of strong emotions and feelings, and an attempt to understand yourself through music. I’m also really happy that this is only the first act. It means there will be at least one more!

After watching the video several times and reading the lyrics, I can say for sure — the universe created by the band feels very close to me. I felt the same when I listened to their earlier songs, so I’m really happy to dive into it again. But this album feels different. Niko and Topi speak so honestly and openly about feelings and what happens inside a person that you can not only try to understand yourself and others, but also learn from their way of thinking.

I have always been deeply impressed by how sensitively Niko and Topi feel the world and how beautifully they express it through music and lyrics. The feeling of wonder from this album will stay with me for a very long time.

I would like to say a few words about each song. Every track is special.

In the first song Introspection the lyrical hero faces an inner conflict and a lack of understanding of himself. What impressed me most is the beautiful comparison of a person with a whole universe, filled with everything we have experienced in the past and what we are going through now. When we try to understand ourselves, we look inside this universe — we analyze our thoughts and feelings. However, the hero admits that for a long time he was afraid to do this, because he didn’t know what he would find inside. It might be something completely different from what we expect. I only started thinking about this a few years ago, and I’m still learning to understand myself. And the hardest part is being honest with myself.

The second track, The Trains, The Planes, The Ships is incredibly beautiful both in sound and lyrics, but you can also feel the pain of loss. Of course, trains, planes and ships aren’t literal images, but symbols of things that leave our lives — people, moments and feelings. This theme is close to me, just like to any other person. It’s always painful to lose something, but there is nothing we can do about it, because this is how life works.

In the third track Room Full of Mirrors there is an amazing comparison between a person and the Ship of Theseus from an ancient Greek myth. According to the story, the Athenians used the ship for a long time, slowly replacing its broken parts with new ones. In the end, philosophers asked if it could still be the same ship, since all its parts had changed. The same happens with people: we’re constantly changing and seeing different versions of ourselves. So the question appears — where is the real me among them?

It really makes you think, doesn’t it?

In the next track Tree of Ténéré we see another powerful image — a real tree that once grew in the middle of the Ténéré desert (Sahara). There was nothing alive within 400 km around it, and it was known as the loneliest tree on the planet. However, despite this, it became a landmark for travelers and an important stop for caravans. I see this meaning in the song: even when you are completely alone, you can still be important. Moreover, in loneliness you can find not only pain, but also a source of inner strength.

In the fifth track Sonata del Pluto there is another beautiful image — Pluto. It used to be part of the Solar System, but later it was removed and called a dwarf planet. However, Pluto still continues to move in its orbit, no matter if it’s considered part of the Solar System or not. The feeling described in this song is very deep. It is not just loneliness, but a sense of being separated from something very important. At the same time, you have to keep living and moving forward. And that is really hard.

The next track, Bad Reality, feels the closest to me. The lyrics are completely in line with my thoughts over the past few years. Things started happening in life that once seemed possible only in a nightmare. They were not supposed to happen, but they did. Sometimes it feels like all of this is just a bad dream that you can wake up from. But you can’t, because it’s real, and there is no way to escape it. This kind of reality slowly destroys you from the inside. But there is music like this that saves you, lifts you up, and helps you keep going.

The chorus of the last track Dear Destiny feels like something you want to scream out loud, standing on a hill with your arms wide open: