Some albums are more than music — they are doorways. With their third studio album, III – Candles & Beginnings, AURI — the visionary trio of vocalist Johanna Kurkela, Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish), and Troy Donockley — once again open a portal into a world where imagination breathes, emotions sing, and soundscapes stretch beyond the ordinary.
Blending folk, progressive rock, symphonic textures, world music, avant-garde atmospheres, and delicate threads of pop, AURI conjure an experience that is at once intimate and vast. At the center, Kurkela’s unmistakable voice radiates ethereal beauty, carried across lush musical landscapes sculpted by Holopainen’s emotive keys and Donockley’s sweeping arsenal of instruments — from uilleann pipes and bouzouki to guitar, whistles, and bodhran.
The Sound of Dreams and Memory
Each track on III – Candles & Beginnings carries its own story — some drawn from memory, others from longing, and many from the timeless interplay between light and shadow. This is not an album you simply listen to; it is one you enter — a sanctuary for seekers, dreamers, and wanderers.
Coinciding with the album’s release is the unveiling of the third single, Blakey Ridge. Accompanied by a brand-new lyric video, the track is joyful, reflective, and transportive, paying homage to The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge in the North York Moors. For AURI, this historic pub is more than a location — it is a haven, a muse, a place of belonging.
Troy Donockley reflects:
“Can the remote, isolated, back of beyond feel like home? Is the middle of nowhere the middle of everywhere?
The sun is setting.
The moon is rising.
The night is coming.
The Lion is waking…
We’ll meet you up on Blakey Ridge.”
Stream the album on all platforms: https://auri.bfan.link/iii-candles-beginnings
Line-up:
Johanna Kurkela | voices, violin, viola, keys
Tuomas Holopainen | keys & backing voices
Troy Donockley | guitars, bouzouki, mandola, uilleann pipes, low whistles, aerophone, bodhran, keys, voices
AURI online:
