Featuring a couple bandmembers of Finnish avant rock band Circle, among them bandleader Jussi Lehtisalo, Rättö ja Lehtisalo is a side project that made its debut in 2003 on Ektro Records. In addition to Lehtisalo, the band features Circle keyboardist and vocalist Mika Rättö. Lehtisalo, a bassist and vocalist, founded Circle in 1991 in Pori, Finland. The band made its album debut in 1994 with Meronia and released a succession of albums in the years that followed, often more than one each year. A decade or so later Lehtisalo teamed up with fellow Circle bandmember Mika Rättö as Rättö ja Lehtisalo, a side project experimenting with synth pop styles of the 1980s. Rättö ja Lehtisalo made their full-length album debut in 2003 with Kopernikus Hortoilee Nakinkengassa on Ektro Records. The album includes the minor hit single Valonnopeus. Subsequent albums include Pari Lepakkoa Transylvaniassa (2005) and En Benttonin Briljantti Stabilismi (2006). Rättö and Lehtisalo subsequently added Finnish rock legend Kauko Röyhkä to their ranks temporarily, thereby becoming the trio Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. The resulting album, Hiekkarantaa, was a Top Ten hit. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi