“Lapsi tarvitsee kummisetä.”

The date is May 15th, 1996. In the quiet up-and-coming east coast arts enclave of Portland Maine, the Lichter-Troop family is celebrating the first birthday of their newest son Jake. According to Weatherspark.com, the temperature is about 63 degrees at mid-day. A relatively cloudy day with areas of sunshine. Jake is parading around the family’s small East End apartment in his underwear receiving profuse adulation from friends and well-wishers alike. All is well. Little does this burgeoning family unit know that their entire world is about to be turned upside down.

Approximately 3833 miles northeast of this bucolic scene, the Carlberg-Correa family are in the process of welcoming their first child into the world via Kätilöopisto Maternity Hospital in Helsinki Finland (now permanently closed). The time of delivery is 11:02 AM (GMT+3). The doctors say they have never seen a baby with such a vivacious smile. One hour after the baby is delivered, her parents name her “Priya” which roughly translates to “apple of every eye”. Though the day is filled with unimaginable joy, there is still one sordid matter that needs attending to. The question lingers in the back of Priya’s parents’ minds: “who shall be the godfather of our precious Priya?”

Back in Portland, now 4:30 AM local time, the telephone rings at Jake’s parents’ apartment on Kellogg Street. Jake’s father answers the phone to an automated voice in a thick Finnish accent asking “Do you accept collect call from Kätilöopisto Hospital in Helsinki?” Jake’s father was startled, mainly because he had just managed to fall asleep minutes prior due to the excessive noise from the neighbors across the hall. “Yes, I accept.” he grumbled. Reader, I regret to inform you that the contents of that phone call are all but lost to the sands of time. But when Jake’s father hung up the phone, he was the sworn godfather to baby Priya in perpetuity with the universe.

Now we skip forward in time 26 years: 26 summers, 26 falls, 26 winters, 26 springs. 26 May 15ths. Every imaginable coming-of-age moment has come and gone and the two children are all grown up. Something is off though. Due to the nature of the date of their shared nascence, Priya and Jake have never once shared a birthday in person. They were always in school or separated by the shockwaves of a global pandemic. Sure, a text or phone call sufficed in previous years. But the moment had been pushed beyond its breaking point. Something had to give.

On May 15th 2022 in Park Slope Brooklyn a song was written and a covenant was formed. Every May 15th for the next ten years, Priya and Jake would be forced to come together to write a song in one sitting, chronological in narrative, until the greatest operetta of the modern era is complete.

Jake and Priya aka “Free Foot Pics” are proud to present the fruits of their first two shared birthdays: Everyone Soon Will Die (May 15th 2022) and Fully Functional Gun (May 15th 2023). Keep an ear out for their next two songs, to be released in October 2025.