Rättö ja Lehtisalo: Circle's Synth-Pop Duo

A Krautrock Duo in Synth-Pop Clothes

Rättö ja Lehtisalo is a duo pairing two Circle members: keyboardist and vocalist Mika Rättö and bassist and founder Jussi Lehtisalo. Formed in 2003, it's a deliberate hard left turn from Circle's main sound — English-language sources describe it as rooted in krautrock (citing Cluster, Neu!, and Harmonia as reference points) but layered with 1980s-style synth-pop on the surface, which is closer to the truth than calling it plain "electropop."

The core catalog runs from their 2003 debut Kopernikus hortoilee näkinkengässä (which included the minor hit single "Valonnopeus") through several more Ektro Records albums into the early 2010s, capped by a 2018 best-of compilation, Kovaa kamaa (Parhaat 2003–2018). Along the way the duo briefly expanded into a trio with veteran Finnish rock artist Kauko Röyhkä, releasing "Hiekkarantaa" in 2009 as "Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo" — a genuine Finnish Top Ten hit, and one of the more mainstream moments to come out of Circle's entire orbit of side projects.

This is an intermittent project rather than a steady one — active in bursts since 2003, with real gig history documented as early as 2007. Finnish-language press has reported a 2025 return under the name Herttakolmonen, though that release sits outside what's independently confirmed in English-language sources, so treat it as a likely-but-unverified continuation rather than a settled fact.

The Full Studio Run

The gap between the 2003 debut and the 2018 best-of is filled by two more studio albums — Pari lepakkoa Transylvaniassa (2004) and Ed Benttonin briljantti stabilismi tai taivaallinen kylpysaippua (2006) — plus the Valonnopeus 12" EP (2005) and a split 12" with doom act Reverend Bizarre (2008) in between. After the Röyhkä collaboration, the duo returned for two more albums, UU mama (2010) and Matematiikka (2012), before the 2018 best-of closed out the era.

A Genuine Finnish Hit

The Kauko Röyhkä collaboration was a full three-way credit, "Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo," built on a specific mismatch: Röyhkä supplied pop lyrics that, by the record's own description, hadn't been accepted by pop singers, set to Rättö and Lehtisalo's krautrock- rooted music. The resulting album, Hiekkarantaa (18 February 2009, Ektro Records, 12 tracks), held number 7 on Finland's official albums chart for four weeks that February and March, and picked up strong reviews at the time — 5/5 from Noise.fi and 4/5 each from Soundi and V2.fi.