Stone Skipping is an episodic deep-dive into Niilas’ travels, memories and relationship to Sápmi.
The title track itself comes from memories of long days on the rocky beaches of Kåfjord, also called «fjæra» in norwegian. With strange uncles and family members, he remembers skipping rocks on the fjords of Lyngen as a child, never quite getting the hang of it like his elders. Field-recordings from this very beach is used in the track, where Niilas shows intricate sound-design imitating the sound of small and large rocks skipping the surface of the fjord on a sunny day.

Many of the tracks takes place in the homeplace of his grandparents from Olderdalen in Kåfjord. Introtrack «BGR (Big Gray Rock)» is a futuristic sci-fi soundscape based on campfires around «Ellasteinen», through the forest from his family’s house.

«Áddja» is a off-beat guitar track based on his grandfather, and walking around the family-house looking at strange ornaments collected from all over the world. With a backdrop of whale-noises, birds and field-recordings, the track shows memories and inspirations that has imprinted been imprinted on the childhood of the artist from a young age.
«Little Foot», the other guitar-featured track on the record presents an immensely nostalgic palette, with rolling percussion and soothing textures. Iranian santoor-player Mirsaeed Mirsaeed Hosseiny Panah features with a beautiful theme on this track, as well as texturing larger parts of the whole album.

«Going To The Shore (Ned i Fjæra)» is a looping ambience and rhodes-piano based on Niilas and his family going down a neighbouring river, «Skarelva». Dub-echoes and field-recordings create a warm atmosphere perfectly matched to a summer day along a long shore and running river. «Going Up Again» shows the reverse, the process of packing your bags to a retrieving sun and dwindling campfire, finally going up again after a long day. The valleys of Kåfjord can bring heavy climbs, which is where the second half of the track originates from, racing with cousin up along the river.

The massive road-trip track «Driving To Gárasavvon» presents the climax of the record. Niilas elegantly blends lush synths, driving percussion, santoor-drips from Mirsaeed, to a monumental sampling of the passed away Nils Aslak Valkeapää. Soundscapes from Esa Kotilainen on original track «Eanan, Eallima Eadni» meaning «The Earth, Mother of Life» blends perfectly with Niilas’ new rendition. 11 Minutes of driving shows a peek into the future of Sami culture, mixing old and new traditions to showcase what experimental Sami electronica can be in 2022.

Ambient track «Solund Auto» shows the young producer from an ambient point of view. Based on a trip with two childhood friends to Notøy, the westernmost point of land in the norwegian geography. The soundscape illustrates looking out on the big Atlantic ocean, next stop being Greenland. «Ráfi (In Love)» is based of an illustration Niilas found in his grandfathers kitchen, of a young woman with a white peace dove. Ráfi being the word for peace in Northern Sami language, the track perfectly incapsulates the feeling of tranquility, being in love, peace.

Concluding the album Niilas creates a nostalgic and rhythmic safe-haven complimented by heavenly vocals of Karoline Wallace. «Pieces» describes looking back at and remembering moments that have printed themselves so firmly in memory. Out of reach as a consequence of time, Niilas can only think back in time and try to pick up the pieces.