III Is The Magic Number

With the release of III - Candles & Beginnings, Auri are finally taking their show on the road. The unconventional Finnish/Yorkshire power trio of Tuomas Holopainen, Johanna Kurkela and Troy Donockley tell Prog about the lure of intimate shows, mysterious song lyrics, and the magic of music. Just don't expect any Holopainen headbanging.

- Words: David West

That's the thing that keeps me stoked up after doing music for 30 years: it's still a big mystery to me,” says Tuomas Holopainen. III - Candles & Beginnings sees the return of Auri, the band featuring Holopainen, his wife and vocalist Johanna Kurkela, and Holopainen's longtime Nightwish bandmate Troy Donockley. By turns ethereal, earthy and always expansive, Auri's latest album is steeped in the mysterious power of music.

“Whenever Troy sends me something or Johanna does something that resonates with me, I just don't understand what's going on,” says Holopainen. “I enjoy what I hear and can't wait to contribute to that piece myself. That's the process I love the most, but I can't explain it, I don't understand it, and that's the true magic of music that keeps me going.”

'Magic' is a word that pops up a lot in our talk, although the song titles reveal the range of inspirations that inform Candles & Beginnings, from Blakey Ridge, named after a 16th-century inn on the North York Moors, to the metaphysics of The Apparition Speaks, and the mythic Shieldmaiden. “We're inspired by all of life, aren’t we?” says Johanna Kurkela. “It could be in the silliest, most mundane moment in your everyday life that you discover a song. A melody could come to you at the gas station, or you could think of large concepts, something very inspiring in the ether. Some songs are more tangible and concrete, others more cryptic and out there, just concepts, ideas, energy or epiphanies.”

“We want to make people feel something,” adds Holopainen. “Happiness, joy, nostalgia, comfort, empowerment, and be inspired.”