AURI, the project featuring NIGHTWISH mainman/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen and his wife, popular Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, will release their second album, “II – Those We Don’t Speak Of”, on September 3 via Nuclear Blast. The effort will be the follow-up to AURI’s self-titled debut LP, which came out in March 2018 via Nuclear Blast.
The “II – Those We Don’t Speak Of” cover artwork comes once again from Janne “ToxicAngel” Pitkänen and bestows in its simplicity and depth.
The official lyric video for the album’s first single, “Pearl Diving”, can be seen below.
AURI began its life with three people, united through their shared need to hear a kind of a music which can’t be described by words alone. The first song born of this mindset, “Aphrodite Rising”, appeared in 2011.
Kurkela lent her unique voice, while Holopainen and English composer and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley (also of NIGHTWISH) cast their spells with various other instruments. Now complemented by the dynamic percussive talents of Kai Hahto (NIGHTWISH), the threesome carves fantastical worlds entirely their own.
Donockley states about “Pearl Diving”: “No lifebelts needed. Where is the sea and where is the boat but more importantly, what is ‘The Pearl’? How deep do we dive to find it? How was it made and how old is it? Shapeshifters and the whispering seagulls of the 12-note scale will tell us. Aweigh anchor, Away!”
With a total running time of 50 minutes, “II – Those We Don’t Speak Of” consists of 10 captivating tracks:
01. Those We Don’t Speak Of
02. The Valley
03. The Duty Of Dust
04. Pearl Diving
05. Kiss The Mountain
06. Light And Flood
07. It Takes Me Places
08. The Long Walk
09. Scattered To The Four Winds
10. Fireside Bard
AURI is:
Johanna Kurkela: Voices, viola
Tuomas Holopainen: Keys, backing voices
Troy Donockley: Acoustic and electric guitars, bouzouki, uilleann pipes, low whistles, aerophone, bodhran, keys, voices
Holopainen and Kurkela have been married since October 2015.
