You might remember that a few months ago, a new band called Auri was announced. Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela (Sonata Arctica, Tuomas Holopainen) lent her voice, while Troy Donockley and Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish) cast their spells with various other instruments. Using selected guest musicians and friends, the album finally takes its ultimate form under the direction of sound engineer Tim Oliver, all within the 'Real World' studios in Southern England. Now, the band has released their first digital single for the song "Night 13".

Their self-titled debut album will be out on March 23rd and available as digipak CD, 2LP gatefold vinyl, a limited Earbook and digital.




Tracklist:

01. The Space Between
02. I Hope Your World Is Kind
03. Skeleton Tree
04. Desert Flower
05. Night 13
06. See
07. The Name Of The Wind
08. Aphrodite Rising
09. Savant
10. Underthing Solstice
11. Them Thar Chanterelles

Johanna Kurkela, Tuomas Holopainen and Troy Donockley - the charismatic protagonists behind Auri - take their eponymous debut on a fairytale journey through time and space, far from here and now reminding us of the fantastic adventures of "Alice in Wonderland".

Auri celebrate a kind of epic-romantic ethno pop that seems to float in quaint spheres, which are intangible yet unleash multi-faceted sounds capes filled with powerful imagery. These sound cascades are based on Celtic traditional sounds, atmospheric-cinematic dream sequences, melancholic melodies and a touch of transfigured mysticism; beautiful instrumentation yielding an unfathomable depth.

Tuomas Holopainen does not want to reveal too much about the songs and their stories, "since the listener should bring their own story to the songs - after all, that's what makes the album so beautiful. It lives from the imagination of every single person!" says the composer. "But what I can tell you is that some of the content and the song lyrics are inspired by the Patrick Rothfuss books. Maybe people who know those books and those stories will recognise some parallels and certain scenarios, but believe me; the album equates to so much more."

If Tuomas describes Auri in his own words, he cannot help but smile; "Just a few days ago, we had this conversation within the band and we thought about the best way to describe it. Two terms came to our minds; Rabbit Hole Music and Celestial Metal. Obviously you can hear influences from folk music, Celtic music, soundtracks - all that music that we love and adore, but categorising the style is really impossible. I'll leave that to the listeners."

A tour is currently not planned but one thing is already certain: "This is definitely not just a one album thing!"

Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Nightwish