Auri (band)

Auri is a Finnish progressive folk band composed of vocalist and violinist Johanna Kurkela, keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen (her husband), and guitarist and pipe player Troy Donockley. Holopainen and Donockley are also members of the band Nightwish. Their self-titled first album, Auri, was released on March 23, 2018 and was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. Holopainen described Auri's style as "rabbit hole music and celestial metal" with "influences from folk music, Celtic music, [and] soundtracks". British rock magazine Prog describes the band as prog folk. The band's name is based on a female character from The Kingkiller Chronicle. Auri was formed by friends Tuomas Holopainen, Troy Donockley and Johanna Kurkela. According to an interview, the music concept for Auri dates back to 2011 when the trio realized they would have to do music together. However, their ongoing responsibilities with other projects prevented them from doing so, until 2017 when they finally had available free time to work on this project. The promotional photoshoot for the band and album inspired and forced them to complete the recording: “2011 was when the seed was planted, so to say.