New album from Johanna Telander

Based in New York, Finnish-American composer, writer and performer Johanna Telander has built a decorated career that moves between music, theatre, poetry and screen work. A published poet and Recording Academy Voting Member since 2024, Johanna has spent years forging a diverse creative output that flows across multiple artistic disciplines. Her work has taken her from live stages to television, film and theatre, with appearances at the United Nations, Lincoln Center and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Her relationship with music stretches back to her teens, when she secured a record deal with Universal Music and began confirming her status as a recording artist and performer. Since then, her work has expanded across radio, television, film and commercials, alongside appearances on various live music stages. She’s also occasionally worked as an actor and voice-over artist, while earning degrees from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and Capital University Conservatory of Music.

Her career has included an appearance on 30 Rock and White Collar, as well as a performance alongside Residente and Bad Bunny on The Tonight Show. But theatre has increasingly become a defining part of her artistic world and in 2022, she unveiled her debut album, Kalevala the Musical, writing the book, lyrics and music herself. The production earned international acclaim and developed a devoted global following, forming the springboard for the ambitious theatrical work that’s followed.

Away from the stage, Johanna continues to explore the relationship between different forms of storytelling; she’s a published poet, collaborates on scripts and scores films, most recently contributing to Quentin Garzón’s award-winning indie short Gray Land. Alongside this work, she releases original contemporary pop songs for voice and harp, adding another facet to an already wide-ranging body of work.

Now, Johanna turns her attention towards the enduring power of folklore with Tales of Les Dames Blanches, a new musical theatre work centred on some of the world’s most notorious female ghosts. Its premise immediately taps into the darker side of storytelling, but Johanna’s approach is less interested in ghosts as simple figures of fear than in what their stories might reveal about the women beneath the legends.

Les Dames Blanches, or Ladies in White, have appeared throughout folklore around the world, from medieval European traditions to fireside tales across four continents. Tales of Les Dames Blanches brings together stories including France’s La Dame Blanche de Puymartin, Latin America’s La Llorona, the Philippines’ White Lady of Balete Drive and Finland’s Valkoinen Rouva. Their geographical differences become part of the musical’s wider exploration, connecting individual supernatural tales through feminine archetypes drawn from Jungian psychology.

Set up by “Ferryman’s Call,” the album starts off with Johanna’s bright vocals, where overlapping layers form an engaging a cappella scene before the twinkle of piano and sweep of string ushers in a delicate instrumental arrangement. “Ocean of Souls” follows with elegant vocal leads drifting above a misty blend of piano, strings and pattering percussion, forming a theatrical folk pop outing brimming with stunning melodies, picture painting lyricism and charming vocal performance.

Songs like “Mother” showcase Johanna’s intricate songwriting flair and incredible performance talent, offering a magical musical moment that’s original, subtly dramatic and thoroughly enjoyable. “Brief Grief Lullaby” presents an emotive soundscape of tender vocals and graceful instrumentation propelled by the steady punch of drums. “Huntress” flows with the laid back march of percussion and jazz-inflected arrangement capped by expressive vocals to offer a brooding jam that takes listeners on a truly transportive musical voyage.

“Creatrix” glides with fluttering piano lines and spoken word vocal delivery before swelling with dazzling melodic leads and enchanting instrumentation. Closing the album with “A Final Breath,” the soothing blend of piano and flute forms a dreamy sound as the taps of drums brings a lilting rhythmic sway as Johanna’s spellbinding vocal performance shines throughout. With Tales of Les Dames Blanches, Johanna Telander continues the theatrical ambition first mapped out with Kalevala the Musical while opening the door to another vast world of mythology, memory and feminine experience. The ghosts remain but their silence is no longer enough and this time, they have a story to tell.

Listen to Tales of Les Dames Blanches below