In troubled times it’s good to have bands who can hold a black mirror up to twisted reality – but there’s also a place for those who offer a haven of temporary relief. Finnish symphonic prog-metal titans Nightwish have always had a flair for the fantastical, and their prog-folk offshoot Auri offer a similar escapist vibe.
Their mystical flutterings are perhaps what should be expected from a project taking its name from a fantasy book series (The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss). ‘Far across the sea/A land of home we weave/ With songs of light we bridge the dark,’ croons vocalist Johanna Kurkela as they tiptoe in velvet shoes across The Invisible Gossamer Bridge, opening their third album.
The core trio is completed by Kurkela’s husband and Nightwish mastermind, Tuomas Holopainen, along with his English multi-instrumentalist bandmate Troy Donockley. With Nightwish drummer Kai Hahto also lending his talents on a guest basis, it would be peculiar if there weren’t points where they at least evoked the parent band.
There are certainly hints in the arrangements; but there are only a couple of moments – the chugging guitars and slightly darker atmospherics of The Apparition Speaks, the grand symphonic swell that informs the latter half of Shieldmaiden – that could perhaps stow away somewhere in the Nightwish catalogue.
Holopainen may be chief composer in Nightwish, but he takes a more democratic approach here
Instead, Auri are very much their own thing. Kurkela’s crystalline vocals are more delicate than Floor Jansen’s powerhouse delivery; they’re perfectly suited to the gentle folk and dreamlike ambient passages that float wistfully through the album.
Donockley takes a prominent role with his vivid, haunting whistles and Uilleann pipes playing as much a part as Holopainen’s keyboards. The latter may be the chief composer in Nightwish, but he takes a more democratic songwriting approach here. The glorious result is a genuinely collaborative soundscape that ebbs and flows beautifully with a wide range of sounds and textures.
Oh, Lovely Oddities lives up to an early self-offered description of the band as music to listen to while falling into Alice’s rabbit hole. Blakey Ridge is an upbeat slice of poppy folk that gives a nod to the remote Lion Inn on the North York Moors.
Museum Of Childhood gives off Disney soundtrack vibes with its world music rhythms and nature sounds. There’s a magical feel to the album as a whole; if the unremitting bleakness of the world outside is getting a little too much, there are worse places than here to hole up and shut it all out.
III – Candles & Beginnings is on sale now via Nuclear Blast.
