“I Thought I Saw You In My Dreams” is the longest Letterbombs song to date. It takes up the band’s entire side of a new split tape with Swedish project återstod, released via No Funeral Records, and on its own it nearly matches the runtime of all four återstod pieces put together. The math caught us off-guard the first time we saw the tracklist.
Letterbombs have appeared in our pages a few times by now. The 2024 dual interview alongside Gil Cerrone, the Finnskramz Finnish screamo feature later that year, summer 2025 In Shorts roundups, the 2023 Coma Regalia tribute. Each round Chris and the rest of the band have come back with concrete details about how the project actually works. Splits in particular are central to how Letterbombs function. This new one with Göteborg’s återstod sits in a transitional moment for the Finnish side.
On the other side of the tape, återstod is the solo work of Henning Runolf, with songs that have been moving around for a long time before landing on this release. The earliest ideas for the project date back to 2018, well before there was a band or any fixed identity around them. “I started writing the embryos to some of these songs already back in 2018,” Henning told us. “There was no band or project back then but that’s when the first ideas for återstod started to take shape. Since then I have worked on many songs ideas over an extended period of time in a number of places, practice spaces, both in Belgium and in Sweden. They’ve taken different forms from time to time and I’ve discarded some ideas too, but the core of the project has still remained consistent since its initial start. It’s still a work in progress though and that is kind of the intention with a lot of the music I make. That it’s organic, evolves and changes in some aspects. While still having a solid ground/idea and sound to grow from.”
The band is based across Oulu, Jyväskylä and Vaasa, recording remotely between cities. Six years in, they’ve also moved past their original plan of staying off stages.
“Letterbombs started out as a band that had no intention of playing live, but here we six years later going to Germany and Poland,” Chris told us. “It’s great writing and recording music, but it’s always extra special getting to play the songs live internationally and even around Finland. Later this year in the summer, we’ll be performing in Europe.” Specific show announcements will land closer to the dates. Chris adds that the bands they’re playing with are truly amazing.
The split itself runs an uneven structure on paper: one Letterbombs track sitting opposite four shorter återstod pieces. The återstod side reads like a day cycle once you line up the titles, “dawn”, “dissociation”, “indifference”, “dusk”, and the Letterbombs song sits outside that loop entirely, stretching across one long arc.
About that long arc, Chris explained: “I Thought I Saw You In My Dreams was a track that I’d had partially written for quite a while and the intention from the beginning was to write a longer song overall that was pushing our sound but still sounded like Letterbombs. It’s definitely a rollercoaster of ride.”
The song reaches further than anything earlier in the catalog without losing what makes Letterbombs sound like Letterbombs. And the tape across both sides has more range than the heaviness alone might suggest. There’s plenty of pummelling between the Letterbombs piece and the four återstod tracks, but both bands work in pauses, tempo shifts and structural turns alongside it. The intensity is constant, the dynamics aren’t.
Working solo means the work spreads out over a long timeline by default. Henning is upfront about it being the hardest part of running återstod alone. “The hardest part is definitely that everything takes a really long time,” he said. “Since I do everything myself I can’t be as time effective. I have to do one thing at a time and spread out things over a longer period of time. All steps, from writing to recording to mixing, takes so much longer since I play all instruments and also record everything on my own. But it is also something I really enjoy doing and I have worked this way for so long I’m pretty used to it. But it can be frustrating sometimes too.”
Live performances aren’t on the table for återstod at this point, though Henning isn’t ruling them out. “I don’t have any plans on doing that at the moment,” he said. “But I’m not opposed to the idea of trying to play these songs live at some point in time and in some capacity. For the time being I’m fully focused on writing and recording material though.” Asked about bands he’d want to collaborate with, he refused to name names, saying it’d feel unfair to anyone he’d inevitably forget to mention, but confirmed there are plenty he’d want to work with in some capacity in the future.
The recording approach matched how Letterbombs usually put releases together. They tracked everything themselves and Chris mixed his own track. Mastering went to Garry Brents. “Working with Garry is always a pleasure, he’s really a true master of his craft and gets things done quickly,” Chris said. “He’s given me a bunch of advice when it comes to mixing etc. Highly recommended to everyone!”
Artwork came from Nate at No Funeral, working under his part.parasite alias. “Nate from No funeral did the artwork. I can’t remember did he bring it up or did suggest it, since I knew he’s done visual stuff too. What he came up with was amazing overall!” Chris said.
Henning had the same instinct from his side. The bands gave Nate full latitude. “We let him do whatever he felt like after he heard both sides and he came up with this which I thought worked perfectly!” Henning said. “Nate is very talented and great at what he’s doing.” On the cassette release itself, he was clear about how much it meant: “I’m deeply grateful we were able to release this split on cassette on No Funeral Records! I really like No Funeral as a label, they’ve put out so much great music and also Nate is a super nice guy that was really easy to work with. The artwork he did under part.parasite is also amazing and a super great fit for this split I feel.”
Henning had a few words on the Letterbombs partnership and where Finland sits for him as a listener. “I think it was really fun and a great honor for me to be able to team up with such a great band like Letterbombs for this split! I have the impression that Finland is producing some really great music acts these days. Especially in the screamo field. Although I’m not that knowledgeable about finnish music and bands in general I still have the impression there’s a lot more screamo acts from Finland these days than compared to like 10-15 years ago. And Letterbombs are really taking finnish screamo to new heights.”
Back home in Göteborg, the local picture is mixed. Bands and shows are plenty, the scene itself is in good shape, but the city around it isn’t making it easy. “The music scene in Gothenburg is currently doing well,” Henning said. “Several venues put up punk, hardcore and metal shows on a regular basis. There’s also a few festivals planned for the summer. Some smaller and some a bit bigger. That being said several venues still struggle a lot financially, even some of the bigger ones. The city and local politicians are sadly not doing much for the cultural life in Gothenburg. More so they actively shut down and tear down scruffy looking and run down places/houses that punks could use for venues and instead they turn them into new hip and trendy neighborhoods. It’s really sad and it’s killing a lot of opportunities for an alternative culture life in the city. But luckily some people are really creative in finding solutions and still manage to put up quite a lot of shows despite that. There are also a lot of bands in the Gothenburg area, in all genres really, which makes the musical scene in Gothenburg pretty lively and interesting.”
The rest of 2026 is already mapped out for återstod, even if the timing stretches across multiple parallel projects Henning is involved with. “For the rest of 2026 I’m planning on working on another split for återstod,” he said. “After that I’m hoping I can record some new songs I’ve been working on as well. But I also divide my time working on music with all of my other music projects I have going, so understandably it really takes its time for some projects. Also some projects need to lay dormant for a some time as well to give room for other things I’m working on at that moment. Time managing is hard.”
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