Leevi & The Leavings

Leevi & The Leavings - Topic

Leevi and the Leavings was a Finnish pop rock band, active from 1978 to 2003.
The band consisted of Gösta Sundqvist, Risto Paananen, Juha Karastie and Niklas Nylund. Sundqvist was the leader of the band, he composed and wrote all the band's songs as well as being the vocalist. Sundqvist was a very private person who rarely gave interviews or appeared on television, but for several years he wrote and hosted radio comedy programs for YLE in which he appeared as himself together with fictitious characters.
The band's music had a distinctive sound of smooth multilayered synth-pop arrangements often featuring acoustic guitar, with an occasional lead guitar. It was based around Sundqvist's tragicomic lyrics and catchy choruses. Sundqvist's lyrics often deal with the humiliated aspirations and crushed hopes of average people, as in the song "Teuvo, maanteiden kuningas", which tells the story of a reckless boy with dreams of becoming a rally champion, or "Pimeä Tie, Mukavaa Matkaa" which describes the final moments of a family preparing to commit vehicular suicide after they were unable to afford a place to live.