Tuomas Holopainen wrote it as a reflection upon his father’s passing in 2021. He reflects on how we have been blessed to have had lantern lights who have guided our lives and how we in turn should serve the same role for others. It is about our love for each other. The Welsh and Northern English word "wynde" means a narrow lane or alley between homes. Basically we walk that narrow alley between our ancestors and our descendants lighting the way between generations until we become the ancestors when we walk into the yesterwynde. Gone is the hurt, the wait, gone is the warmth of day. A stray boat saved, happy memories engraved, on into a velvety night, beneath a lanternlight. Last night brought the heaviest of snows melting the songs of old, tying the boat, write a new one soon, sending me to the drowning moon, far above a lanternlight. I'm in the light and flood, I'm in the four winds, I am the waves shaping pebbles flawless gems, I am the snow on your palm. I am the secret stream, moss beneath your feet, I am you who climbed off of my back not long ago, a sheltered song in a world now gone, petrichor, the timeless. Turn loose the swaying boat, meltwater, sound of spring. I hear our song now, sung by the free, for a thousand more tomorrows of an incomplete weave. To the meadows I go, I’ll be waiting for you once upon a lanternlight. I walk now toward the trees, I am the secret stream, the night falling at my feet into the forest of Yesterwynde.
Nightwish is their own genre and no other band comes close to the level they are at. Never, in the history of music entertainment, have a set of skills and talent collided in such powerful manner. Tuomas is a true genius as a composer and with lyrics.
The first few lines of this work send shivers down my spine. Tears flow soon thereafter. Floor's lower register is an emotional depth charge to the heart. Tuomas is the genius composer of our time.
Reaction and review both would be great! Nightwish albums usually take repeated listens to absorb and properly appreciate, but this one is more experimental and progressive than ever. Particularly challenges any and all expectations - melodically, harmonically, stylistically. One thing I noted: this is the first album since Wishmaster than does NOT have a long (over 10 mins) standout centerpiece. Instead there's something "left of field" on every song that stands out as unusual. Thematically it ends the trilogy that started with Endless Forms, but I feel it's different in every way. EFMB leans toward catchy and poppy in a Eurovision-esque way, this album is almost the opposite of that - it embraces strangeness, the lyrics are more imaginative and open to interpretation than ever. The director of the video by Stobe Harju, who also directed the film Imaginaerum and the music videos of "Noise" and "The Islander". He is my favourite collaborator of NW in the visual medium, his work always has a very distinct style and quality.
The musical shift was in service of the story of the song. Last song on the record. It ties up the concept of time and a nostalgic contemplation our of brief moment in the overall timeline of existence.
