The ethereal trio AURI returns with their long-awaited third studio album, III – Candles & Beginnings, set for release on August 15th, 2025. We got the chance to sit down with AURI to talk about the new album, their love for Disney, and much more. Watch the interview here or read the complete transcript below…
Well, thank you so much, and thank you for coming all the way down to Helsinki. How are you guys doing today?
Troy: Awful. [laughter] No, we’re doing really well.
Johanna: Really happy and excited about the tour to come and the album that we’re going to release in just a jiffy.
Tuomas: It’s lovely to be here talking about things that we like to talk about.
Troy: Yeah, and we surprise each other with some of our answers as well, which is always really nice.
Johanna: You learn new things about your friends.
Troy: Yeah, you learn new things.
What new thing did you learn about each other today?
Troy: Oh, you don’t want to know about that.
Well, it’s been a while since we talked about AURI, I guess. Last time I was in the other hotel in Kallio, and you Troy] weren’t there back then. But I imagine that things have changed a bit, so what have you sort of been up to the recent years?
Johanna: Well, everyone was working on this album that is soon coming out. And also, the live shows, that’s a big jump into a new level of experiencing new adventures with this band. So we’re really excited, yeah.
Yeah, at least for you two, it’s a whole different level again, I guess. Because you’re used to playing such big audiences, and you’re used to more intimate shows. So how does that feel for you two?
Troy: Well, we envy that, so we’re really looking forward to it. We’re really looking forward to seeing the whites of the audience’s eyes, as they say. Really exciting.
Tuomas: For me it’s a big thing. I can’t emphasize how much it means to me to kind of go back to square one, and experience all that novelty again. As we did with some other bands 30 years ago. So I’m really looking forward to the intimacy, and also the new dynamic with these lovely people.
Yeah, how does AURI’s music translate live is what I’m personally wondering. Have you figured it out yet?
Troy: So far it’s exceeded expectations. We rehearsed for a full week before coming down here to Helsinki. And it was marvellous. Yeah, absolutely.
Johanna: It felt like we had been doing this for longer than we actually had, because it was just so smooth.
Troy: Actually the first rehearsal we did was without the drummer, without Kai. And it was just us, and we were astonished at how good it was sounding. Almost to the point where we were going to fire the rest of the band and continue as a trio. Because it was such a surprise to hear the thing flower in the live environment.
Johanna: It really is a momentous year, isn’t it? For fulfilling this huge dream that we’ve carried with us for over a decade.
Troy: Forever, forever.
For that long? Wow.
Troy: Yeah, yeah. I mean, physically we’ve carried it with us for 15 years. The dream of playing this music together, just the three of us having the freedom to do what we want, has been a dream. And here we are. It’s going to happen.
Johanna: Yeah, finally.
Troy: As my mum says, touch wood.
Johanna: Oh, indeed. Touch wood. I feel like we’re already there.
Troy: We are already there.
Johanna: We’ve already rehearsed and it’s already up in the air, in the ether.
The last video interview I did with you, it kind of took a life on its own. And somehow it gathered 70,000 views, which is huge. But I was wondering, does it surprise you how deeply AURI resonates with people?
Johanna: It’s really encouraging. I feel like in this day and age, people really… And I feel like it’s always been that way. People yearn to connect with themselves and with each other. It’s really intrinsic in all of us, isn’t it? And if you can do that with music and if AURI could be that vehicle to connect the hearts and souls, I think that’s such a beautiful thing. I’m really grateful for.
So for this third album, was the process similar or did you do something different this time around?
Troy: Pretty much identical. It’s our own lovely little, I suppose, routine that we have once Aori is woken up. Our routine is to routinely make music that each one of us loves. That’s what we do. Yeah. So nothing much has changed there.
Johanna: We didn’t specifically record any animals on this album, which we did for the other ones.
Oh, that’s a shame. I was going to ask about that.
Johanna: But they’re still there. I mean, we have two cats at home, and even though they’re not in my studio when I record my vocals, you can totally hear them behind the door. So there might be some cat.
Scratches?
Johanna: Well, no, vocally audible, yeah. You might spot some there. I don’t know if we left a few.
Troy: Maybe.
Johanna: If you’re lucky.
Troy: But there are no stunt performances on this album. I think it’s all – mind you, my mother does appear on it.
Johanna: You’re right.
Troy: She does. She does.
In what song is it?
Troy: I’m not telling you.
Johanna: Yeah, and also, we did record some other dear people as well for another song, so yeah, there have been.
Tuomas: Now that you mentioned it, yeah, we have had some guests on this album. Just not four-legged ones.
Troy: Well, you’ve never met my mother, have you? Not in that state.
Johanna: Yes, I never did. Yes, I never did. Oh, goodness.
Well, I know that one of your cats, I remember, is called Vangelis, right? What’s the other called?
Johanna: Edgar.
After Edgar Allan Poe, I guess?
Johanna: Yes! Good one.
Now, the title is “Candles and Beginnings.” Where does that come from? Is that like a lyrical phrase, or how did you come up with it?
Tuomas: You tell your story. You tell your story.
Troy: Candles and Beginnings, they’re powerful symbols, really. The candle is a powerful symbol of obviously light in the dark, and beginnings are a timeless cycle. And for AURI, it’s the beginning of yet another expression of AURI, and lots of other things. It can mean lots of things. That’s another reason why we chose those two words. And it ties in nicely with the tour as well, Candles and Beginnings.
Tuomas: I remember us having a conversation about this, and it just came, those two words.
Troy: They did, they appeared, yeah.
Tuomas: And I think it was you who said, how about that for an album title?
Johanna: Yeah, exactly. So it just arrived from the ether.
Tuomas: We were just talking about Candles and Beginnings.
Troy: “Well, what did you say?” Candles and Beginnings.
Tuomas: So yeah, that’s right, that’s where it came from.
I mean, it does seem like a cozy album title as well. That’s also the vibe that this album is kind of giving, maybe unintentionally, but it is there. I feel like the world is obviously a bit of a mess, and for me, after three exhausting days at Tuska, it was nice to put this album on and listen to it and relax a little bit. There’s always something very gentle about your music and soothing. So do you think, as the world is growing darker, that that’s more needed, and that you’re doing kind of the opposite with your music?
Johanna: Well, I think we like to hold on to the light and look for the light, because there is so much light in the world. Yeah, you just need to zoom out of all of the darkness and just embrace it and see it. And through music, I think that’s something that AURI represents.
Troy: Yeah, it is. It is.
What also occurred to me is that when I read the press releases, I often see the term progressive used about your sound. But admittedly, I listen to prog rock and prog metal, so for me, it’s a bit hard to link that. But in this album, especially in “I Will Have Language,” and then the atmospheric beginning of “A Boy Travelling With His Mother,” it felt really proggy. Especially the last one, it reminded me a little bit of Vangelis and Chariots of Fire, the main theme. So I was wondering, how do you feel about that progressive, proggy connection, and do you see that in AURI’s sound?
Troy: Well, we don’t mind. We don’t mind. It’s difficult to label AURI music by its very nature. It’s not obvious what AURI is, and that’s something that we really hope the audience, the people who love the music that we make, fully understand, that we aren’t easy to label. Now, there are lots of elements which filter through us all that will be evident to whatever degree, but we don’t consciously ride on any genre. We just don’t do that. We just need to express what we have to express, and we do that together.
Johanna: It’s utter freedom, complete artistic freedom, what AURI represents to you.
Troy: Yeah, that’s our raison d’être.
Johanna: It’s our raison d’être. That’s a lovely word. I’ll have to write it down. It’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get with that.
Tuomas: That’s right. Just the whole discussion about genres is a bit boring to me. It always has been. But I guess you need to categorise. For people, when they go to a record store, they know where to go and find it.
Troy: But here’s the thing. If you go into HMV Records in York, or in Piccadilly Circus in London, AURI is in metal.
Tuomas: What?
Troy: Yeah. That’s surprising. So there we are. But hopefully it doesn’t put anybody off, because people can find out about AURI through their friends or through the internet.
Tuomas: That’s only because of the NIGHTWISH connection.
Troy: Of course. And Nuclear Blast, of course. When those record shops get that product, Nuclear Blast, they just instantly… Because it’s a bizarre thing that we’re on a metal label. But that says a lot about the label. It says how actually Catholic in their tastes they are. So there is something good in that. But we also love the dedication of Nuclear Blast as well. They genuinely love AURI, regardless of some of the other label mates we have.
Yeah, you mentioned that you categorize your music into genres. Is that a little bit maybe boring in a way? But do you think it should be… If it should be categorized, would it be better to categorize it in moods or vibes? Or would that be a better way somehow?
Johanna: Maybe we should come up with a new box for it.
Troy: Exactly. What did we call it? We did have a label.
Tuomas: We had a label at some point.
Troy: Which was this long. Oh, wasn’t it Celestial Metal? Was it?
Johanna: No, no, no. Rabbit Hole Music.
Troy: Rabbit Hole Music is another one in reference to Lewis Carroll. Because you’ve got to be careful of rabbit holes because they’re pretty stinky things. Are they?
Johanna: Not the Alice one. No, not that one.
Troy: But some people in different environments go, I’m not going into a rabbit hole to listen to this. It’s full of poo and bits of fur… Oh, I’ve heard this.
Although, if you have cats, you’re covered in fur anyway.
Troy: But no, Johanna’s absolutely right. It’s Rabbit Hole Music in the Lewis Carroll sense.
On that note, you mentioned that it’s pure artistic freedom for you. But at the same time, I do not think that AURI will ever put out a rap song or something like that. So are there still boundaries?
Johanna: Mind you, there is a sort of little bit of rapping in “Pearl Diving.” Isn’t there? If you can call it rapping.
Tuomas: Rapping.
Johanna: No, not really. I don’t see us putting out a rap single or album anytime soon. Or Hammond Organ on it.
Troy: The only rapping you’re going to get in AURI is us wrapping presents up to give to each other. That’s all you’re going to get.
Johanna: So I think there are a few exceptions. But yeah, we still claim the freedom. So if we completely lose our minds, we might do it. So there is the freedom to explore every avenue. But no, I don’t see us particularly.
It would be kind of funny, though. But maybe we should call it help if you ever do that.
Johanna: Yes. You would know that there’s something’s really wrong.
Tuomas: I like Eminem. Completely irrelevant to any of this discussion… but.
Johanna: I like Eminem as well.
Tuomas: Maybe I was just trying to make the point that there is something to be found from every genre. Except Hammond organ sound. And that’s not a genre.
Johanna: It should be banned.
Troy: What about Hammond organ in Eminem songs?
Tuomas: Oh, no. I don’t think he has any.
Troy: Maybe not.
Johanna: I don’t know how we got down this road.
Troy: I don’t know why. But he does wear very baggy pants. That says something.
Yeah. Well, to get this back on track, I guess. There is a song called Blakey Ridge. And I admit that when I was listening to the music, I didn’t read the press release in advance. So then I was like, what is Blakey Ridge? And I googled it. And then I read about the Lion Inn. So it was actually quite an interesting read. But then I read it’s one of your favorite places on earth or something like that. So I was wondering when you write music about a place, what are you chasing? Are you chasing memories? Do you want to tell people about the place and the music?
Troy: That’s a lovely thought. With Auri, we pride ourselves on our ambiguity. And “Blakey Ridge” appears to be explicitly about Blakey Ridge. And it is about Blakey Ridge. But it’s more nuanced than that. If you read the lyrics, there is a nuance that’s delicious going on with it. But with the physical place, yeah, it’s really important to us. And it was a beautiful surprise when that song appeared. When “Blakey Ridge” appeared as a song for AURI. What can you say about Blakey Ridge? About the Lion Inn? You have to experience it, really. But it’s very Prancing Pony.
You know, that’s literally in my question.
Troy:
Oh, really?
I was going to go there. The folky part. What I had in my mind is Merry and Pippin dancing on tables and stuff like that in Prancing Pony.
Troy: Well, we have danced on tables. It’s an extraordinary and unique place. In this world today, it’s a wonderful mainline into a romantic past. And also a mainline into an even more romantic future. Because the world is alive. And full of beauty. And Blakey Ridge is a huge part of that. Living, breathing through the past and breathing, blowing into the future. Again, you need to experience it. We sound like an advert for Blakey Pub.
Johanna: We do.
Troy: For Blakey Ridge. Yeah, it is though, isn’t it? We’ve been going there for years. Us three.
Tuomas: We’re taking our friends there. We always do. Yeah.
Troy: We always like to take people there. Yeah. To see their faces when they go in.
Johanna: It’s a magical place.
Troy: It is.
I have never been there myself. But would you ever be able to perform there somehow?
Johanna: It is a dream, isn’t it? Yeah, one of these days it would be fab to sing Blakey Ridge in Blakey Ridge.
Troy: There’s a space for it. Tell them though about… Tell them. Tell them.
Tuomas: Ooh. Yeah. There is a place called AURI Corner within the pub. And that’s the place where AURI did its first ever live show. Yeah.
Troy: The only one so far. About 10 years ago, wasn’t it? 2015.
Johanna: Yeah.
Tuomas: We did our first ever show in there. So that place is actually called AURI Corner. I was pretty wasted. I can’t remember much about it. I don’t remember much either.
Troy: We drank a lot of Old Paul.
Tuomas: And I had a keyboard about this big. Yeah.
Troy: And you kept on playing those PINK FLOYD covers that I had no idea about. It was a bit of an impromptu gig. Yeah.
Tuomas: We actually gathered an audience, didn’t we? We did.
Troy: We did. We did. We gathered an audience. And we were just singing whatever came to mind, you know, really. But it was a historic night.
Was this AURI Corner called AURI Corner before you became AURI? Or is it something new?
Tuomas:After that night.
Troy: It was after that night, yeah.
Johanna: On a momentous occasion.
There’s also this section towards the end of “Museum of Childhood” that had a bit of “Circle of Life”, Lion King vibes to me. And in “Shield Maiden,” there’s also a lyrical reference to Cinderella. So I was wondering what Disney’s impact is on you guys in general?
Troy: Oh, these two are not interested in Disney at all.
Ew.
Troy: It’s amazing. It’s amazing. You know, I talk to them about Disney and they go, who?
Johanna: You can’t really shake it out of us. Yeah. It’s everywhere. We live and breathe. Yeah.
Tuomas: Yeah, it’s the ancient truth that whatever you like as a kid, it comes out in what you do in the later years.
Troy: There’s no escaping it.
Tuomas: There’s no escaping it. That’s just how it works. That’s how human body and mind works.
Troy: Yep.
Tuomas: We all love our Disney.
Johanna: We do. Still do.
Tuomas: But the Cinderella in “Shield Maiden” has nothing to do with Cinderella. No, no. Obviously.
Troy: No.
What is the first Disney movie you watched? If you remember that.
Troy: Oh, mine was Pinocchio.
That’s a good one.
Troy: It blew my mind completely and terrified me to death.
Is it the whale part? Because I was really scared about that.
Troy: No, it wasn’t.
Tuomas: Pleasure Island
Troy: Terrified me when they started to spout donkey ears.
Tuomas: Really scary stuff.
Troy: Yeah.
Tuomas: Really pitch black.
Troy: Disney wouldn’t do that kind of stuff. They would never do that now. And Bambi. You’ll never see your mother again. I mean, can you imagine? They would never get away with that now. More’s the pity. But it helped us as kids to understand the dark. Now kids are overprotected and don’t see any of it.
I don’t know if you’ve ever watched this series, it’s called The Animals of Farthing Wood, but it was so sad and dark at times, even though it was meant for kids. Indeed, series like that don’t get made anymore, but do you think that experiencing darkness like that as a kid is important?
Troy: Vital. Absolutely vital. And it’s something that needs to be addressed in our society. Because children are growing up warped now. Warped with a terrible self-centered. What’s the word? Kids now are growing up with a terrible sense of elitism. You know. And it’s not healthy. It’s not healthy.
Johanna: And I think rather than try to eradicate the darkness. And the challenging things from our environment. We should give children the tools to tackle those things. And rise above them. And you know. Yeah breathe through the emotions that arise. I think that’s much more healthy than just. Oh you can’t show this. You can’t say this. It’s helping nobody. I think.
Troy: No it doesn’t. And they don’t become well-adjusted adults. Now you’ve got people who are so over-privileged. And have a terrible sense of their own importance. That they’re lost in the maelstrom of it all. And there’s no way out. You need to see boys smoking cigars with their donkey ears growing out of their heads. And you need to be told that you’re never going to see your mother again by a stag. That’s what you need. Plus why do little kids love frightening horror stories? Because it’s integral to us. It’s ancient in us. It goes back to the dawn of time. And it’s been erased in this modern era. Through being monocoddled by over-protective, over-conditioned parents. So I hope there’s an end to that. But I think there’s even now trigger warnings on Disney films.
Is there?
Troy: Yeah, there’s trigger warnings. Warning parents that there might be things that might upset their little darlings. You might see somebody smoking a cigar. You might see somebody smoking a cigar and growing donkey ears. You might not want your children to see that. It’s a bit disturbing. No, terrible. Grow a backbone.
Johanna: My first film was Little Mermaid. That made a huge impact on me.
Tuomas: I can’t remember mine, to be honest. I might have a false memory. I thought it was Fantasia.
Troy: That’s what you’ve always said.
Tuomas: It might be a false memory, but I think it was that.
Well, that’s also a great one.
Troy: I remember seeing that in the cinema. It blew my mind completely.
Tuomas: Talk about the genius of Walt Disney. After the massive success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi, he makes this two-hour, 15-minute-long musical thing without any plot or talking.
Troy: Talk about courage.
Tuomas: Talk about courage and vision.
Troy: Yeah, visionary stuff. Yes, incredible. And absolutely not giving a jot about what anybody thinks. He just knows he’s got to do it. That is the essence of art. What he did with Disneyland and Disney World and everything.
Tuomas: Still one of my biggest heroes.
It’s kind of what you do as well, I guess. Your artistic freedom and doing what you want.
Tuomas: It’s just very inspiring, these kind of people who just don’t give a fuck. They have a strong vision and they do everything.
Troy: They’re always instant heroes. When you have people who are totally independent and aren’t frightened of what other people think, then it’s instant heroism.
Johanna: I totally feel that same energy is empowering AURI as well. It is. It’s our driving force.
Troy: It really is. And we really do not care what anybody thinks about this music. You see, the whole point of being an artist or a musician is to project to the outside world. But project to yourself first. You’ve got to find it within yourself first. You make the music for yourself. You project it into yourself and then you project it into the outside world in the hope that somehow there might be people out there who are similarly inclined to this kind of music. You want to connect to people who are alive and open. So when you connect to people who are open and alive, wonderful. But if they happen to be closed and dead, then you disconnect. So you can only hope to connect. If you disconnect, then so be it. It really doesn’t matter.
Tuomas: The zeitgeist of today is a bit more challenging for AURI and bands alike than it would have been in 1973. Yeah, for sure. But we still keep on doing our thing and that’s all we can do.
Troy: Yeah, we don’t mind. I don’t mind. Nobody gets that.
Tuomas: No, they don’t.
Troy: Wouldn’t it be great if somebody in America goes, Hey!
To sort of end with, I guess, this is a bit of a random question and not really album related, but I saw a Reddit thread and I also want to give the people what they want to hear. So I was wondering, at some point you mentioned in an interview that you were reading Harry Potter and people were speculating what your houses would be. So what would you say to those people?
Johanna: Can you believe it? We both read the books this year. Last year. The first time we read them was last year. And we fell in love big time. And now we’ve tried to get you to read them as well.
Tuomas: The problem is that I saw the first film back in the days and I thought this is not for me at all. I just can’t take this. And then last year I decided to give it another try and just completely fell in love with it. I mean…
Johanna: The books is where it’s at.
Tuomas: The books is where it’s at. I don’t care about the films at all. And to answer your question, I’m a Ravenclaw.
Johanna: We took the test.
Yeah, you did?
Johanna: Yeah, online. I’m Gryffindor.
That’s my house too.
Troy: And I’m Rivendell.
Johanna: I want to be a Rivendell too!
We’ll do the test for you some time. Next interview!
Troy: Next interview.
Anyway, thank you so much for your time. Do you have any last thoughts you want to share with your fans?
Troy: Last words?
Johanna: Just that we’re really excited to see you all on tour this fall. We can’t wait to share the magic of music with you all.
Tuomas: Well said. See you.
Johanna: See you soon.
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
