#/ apply any song from the aphrodite album.

[moonglittering]

*insert any kylie minogue lyric here.*

[arcanalogue]

Music For Diviners - ‘The End of Time’

Thusfar, these Music For Diviners posts have explored soundscapes that aren’t merely inspirational, but may have some kind of practical utility. (To the extent that one considers divination “practical,” but why not just humor me?)

This is the history of music itself; for as long as humans have been making it, we’ve used it as the gateway to other realms of existence, other parts of the self. Our ancestors used it to elicit and express feelings there weren’t words yet to describe. Even now, language often fails us in these areas. That’s how I feel every time I sit down to write about music. 

Living in New York City is what drove me to incorporate music into my practice; no matter where I lived, silence was never an option. Like so many of you, I find it much easier to relax with a controlled background layer of noise —otherwise everything in the goddamn world distracts you by making its own tiny noise, including our own goddamned bodies. 

*duodenal gurgle*

Music is also an enticing mode of creative expression for any magician. Look, I have almost no musical talent whatsoever, and artistically I tend to stay in my lane, but tinkering with unique tracks to accompany certain experiments allows me to bypass that self-censor. Because I’m the only person it has to be good enough for, right? 

This is a neurotic preamble to explain why I’m posting some of my own homespun little music bits alongside others made by ACTUAL MUSICIANS. Because you might actually find them useful? Or perhaps they’ll help you feel permission to create some of your own. 

CASEFILE: TITANOBOA

I won’t bore you with too many of the details, but I spent a couple of years harboring a magical fascination pre-human life forms. It began with researching humankind’s most recent common ancestor with birds, as a way of retracing our evolutionary steps to the point where, had things gone one way instead of another, you might be flying and singing and laying eggs today instead of reading these words. (By all means, don’t let me stop you!)

In case you’re curious, here’s how close scientists have it pegged: 

• Archaeothyris (on the mammal side) - 306M years ago during the late Carboniferous Period (Protoclepsydrops is possibly older, but fossils are too fragmentary to be certain.)

• Hylonomus (on the bird side) - 312M years ago during the late Carboniferous Period

So at some point predating both of these species, there existed some kind of weird, ratty little lizard creature whose descendants ended up reaching VERY different conclusions about, for example, what to do about breakfast.

But I digress! Already! 

In 2012, I happened to catch the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary “Titanoboa: Monster Snake.” The gist is that 60 million years ago, an area of Colombia was dominated by the largest snake that ever lived, now known by the name Titanoboa cerrejonensis. 

Look, I don’t know what kind of serpent-y magick-y stuff you’re into... Hecate? Quetzalcoatl? Kundalini? Cthundalini? Whatever it is, I can only assume it could stand to benefit from associations with the largest ding-dang snake our planet ever produced... that we know of! 

On a lark, or perhaps as a gesture of blatant self-disregard, I attempted a couple of rituals geared toward making contact with Titanoboa across the eons and applying its symbolic potency toward certain magickal aims.

Hi mom, if you happen to be reading: sorry I’m like this! 

I shouldn’t have to point out how many of our feelings and desires are tethered in complicated ways to the experiences of our non-human forebearers. The needs which have historically compelled our species to “magical” solutions run deep, deep! We tend to forget about that since our own feelings are so painfully immediate, and our consciousness tends to remain very rooted in the present tense, to the point where we have to strain to see beyond it. Once upon a time our very survival hinged on this, but our needs have gradually evolved to the point where we crave far more than mere safety. In fact, a lot of what we crave runs completely counter to our survival instinct. It’s complicated, ya know?

Musing over all this, I decided my Titanoboa work demanded a sonic backdrop blessed by Our Lady of Poor Self-Preservation Instincts. That’s right, I’m talking about Lana Del Rey, whose “Born To Die” album happened to be released the same year as that Titanoboa doc. Coincidence? Gosh, I sure hope so!

I would only be slightly full of shit if I described this album as a fantasia of proto-human desire, expressed in the most cold-blooded ways through the idiom of American capitalism. 

To Lana (in that stage of her songwriting, anyway), love itself is an expression of darwinism. Nearly every song is about survival and sacrifice, eating and being eaten, thanatos bleeding over into eros. 

“I sing the National Anthem While I'm standing over your body, hold you like a python...”

I could go on, but you’re probably better off just going back and listening to the album.

This doesn’t even count as a digression though, since my Titanoboa devotional track — embedded up at the top of this post! — ended up consisting of just one line from the song “Blue Jeans,” the part where Lana sings: “I will love you till the end of time.”

The song is about a woman left to eternally rehash the details leading up to her gangster beau’s disappearance. You may recall, the music video (embedded below) featured LDR lounging with her love in a pool that turns out to be full of alligators — Titanoboa’s snack of choice! What a potent visual metaphor for attempting love in a world teeming with danger, recognizing one’s role at the bottom of the food chain and then wading in anyway. What do we have to fear from any mega-reptile, when our own desires are enough to cut us off at the knees? Might as well at least go ahead and pick out a nice one-piece and get our legs wet before we lose them.

The author Lawrence Durrell meditated on this at length in his Alexandria Quartet novels, and nothing would surprise me less than finding them on Lana’s nightstand. He writes:

“I realized then the truth about all love: that it is an absolute which takes all or forfeits all. The other feelings, compassion, tenderness and so on, exist only on the periphery and belong on the constructions of society and habit. But she herself — austere and merciless Aphrodite — is a pagan. It is not our brains or instincts which she picks, but our very bones.”

And later:

“By one of those paradoxes in which love delights I found myself more jealous of him in his dying than I had ever been during his life. These were horrible thoughts for one who had been so long a patient and attentive student of love, but I recognized once more in them the austere mindless primitive face of Aphrodite.“

 This may end up being a LOT of setup for what’s ultimately just a simple ten-minute chunk of “music,” which was achieved by plucking out that one lyric and sloooooowing it down, then layering it, slooooowing it down again, blending into a chunky primordial soup. The result is a many-layered hymn of cthonic moaning, with no words clearly expressed: just a slurry of proto-mammalian melancholia: austere, mindless, primitive, coiling and uncoiling in warm pools of black water. 

The warmth of it is actually what surprised me; I imagined it might turn out to be too bleak and desolate to use for any real length of time, and the last thing I need is to work even harder at depressing myself. But I’ve played it on a loop for hours at a time while I was working on... stuff, without feeling oppressed by it. I don’t really fux with Titanoboa anymore, but this bit of “music” has remained a useful tool in my magickal arsenal.

I tested the track on an unsuspecting friend recently, who detected a “strong generative energy” in it and said they’d love to use it for goddess work. Incorporate this into your appeals to Hekate, or to Venus, or your preferred source of succor in all matters primally personal. As a backdrop for divination, it’s the sonic equivalent of black candles on a black tablecloth, with things squirming in the shadows. 

So there you have it! I’ve opened up to you about my creative process and certain absurd inspirations, standing bare before you in the full splendor of my nerdiness, “blurring the lines between real and the fake,” as a certain living snake goddess avatar might put it. 

Like I said, the ultimate goal in sharing this is to remind you to take these same deep dives yourself. Follow your obsessions to their (un)natural conclusions! Risk making terrible art in pursuit of articulating the uncanny! You never know what might end up taking on a life of its own. The end of time could prove to be just the beginning!

This has been yet another installment of Music For Diviners. Thanks for tuning in!

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Tomás Nochteff (Mueran Humanos)

Mueran Humanos, an Argentinian duo now based in Berlin, mixes post-punk, industrial-inflected synth explorations, garage rock and psychedelia. Carmen Burguess and Tomás Nochteff share vocal duties and play a very basic line-up of instruments: bass, synths, drum machines and samplers. In his review for Dusted, Andrew Forell called their latest, Hospital Lullabies, “a thrilling concoction of electronic, industrial, bass-driven body music fueled by the transgressive spirit of a DAF or a Psychic TV.” Here, Tomás presents his list of visionary music.

A list of visionary music

What is a visionary? Visions can come in dreams, in journeys to other worlds, in hallucinations. They can be the product of will, of a derangement of the senses, or they can come uninvited to save you or to haunt you and destroy your mental balance, even your life. It can be heavenly, or hellish, but to be authentic visions they have to be otherworldly. And to be visions rather than just imagination, they must have an element of truth. Not literal truth, like “that wall is green,” but a different kind of truth, the one that´s expressed in symbols, in metaphors, in omens and obsessions. In “Heaven and Hell,” Aldous Huxley analyzed the visions of people under the influence of psychedelic drugs, the visions of mystics and the visions of schizophrenics. He found fundamental parallels and concluded that they must have been visiting the same places. These people are not merely hallucinating, but they are perceiving another reality, visiting a different world, or maybe they are perceiving the world as it really is. And he quotes Jung on this: “schizophrenics and mystics are on the same ocean, but schizophrenics are drowning and mystics are swimming.” A visionary could be a mix of all these archetypes. Like Philip K Dick: was he on drugs? Yes. Was he mad? Yes. Was he seeking enlightenment? Yes. Had his visions an element of truth? No doubt about it. Were his visions revelations? To some extent, yes.

On our last album, Hospital Lullabies, the songs deal with all these different experiences on the journey to another world and on the invasion from another world into everyday life, with its horror and its beauty, the agony and the ecstasy. And how one copes, or doesn´t, with it.

So to celebrate it, I made a list of music that I do consider visionary. There’s madmen, there’s mystics and there’s psychonauts, all possible combinations of the three archetypes and everything in between.

Pharoah Sanders—“The Creator has a Masterplan” (Impulse)

I don´t know much about cosmic jazz, or any jazz for that matter, but what I know is that this record is pure bliss. “Harvest Time,” on Pharoah is another masterpiece. Alice Coltrane and Don Cherry are also incredible. This is music of the spheres; it has the touch of God.

Rudimentary Peni—CacophonyI (Outer Himalayan Records)

One of the few perfect punk bands ever, for lots of reasons. The bass lines are extraordinary, for example. But they belong here because of schizophrenic member Nick Blinko: incredible artist & novelist, obsessed with Catholicism and the supernatural horror. A guy who stopped his medication to force himself into a psychotic crisis just to write an album. Hero. Martyr.

Nico— “Janitor of Lunacy” (Cherry Red Records)

For me, Nico was the best and more underrated of all Velvets (and we love Velvet Underground as much as anyone). Also, the production from John Cale on her records is probably his best work too, or at least among his best. I feel that she is not appreciated enough. Iggy said that meeting her changed him. I suspect that´s true for all her famous friends: Bowie, Lou Reed, John Cale, Leonard Cohen, etc. They were all larger-than-life characters. And we know there is an element of self-built mythology on all that, a bit of acting. There is nothing wrong with that; rock and roll at its best is a complete artform and we must appreciate this self-built mythology as part of their craft. But with Nico you don´t get that feeling. She seemed that she didn´t care about her image, she was born Nico and I suspect that in that sense she inspired them all to no end. She was the genuine article. One of our main loves in music. Essential with a capital E.

Coil—“I Don’t Want To Be The One”

Jhonn Balance wanted to be a magician, and he died trying. I think he succeed in building a shamanic body of work with the help of the great late Sleazy and a myriad of brilliant contributors. Coil´s music at its best it´s like a plasma between worlds, or a very, very good psychedelic drug. My most beloved electronic/industrial/post-industrial project ever and one of our main influences. This performance is superb.

Lungfish — Feral Hymns

I´m not interested in DC post hardcore per se, and I don´t have any tattoos. I shouldn´t care about Lungfish the way I do, but they knock me out every single time. Daniel Higgs is a seer. I don´t know what he is talking about, but at the same time, my gut knows exactly what he is talking about. He speaks in images, like Tarot, like the religious painters, like Rimbaud and San Juan de la Cruz. His delivery is supreme. Raw and fragile, yet powerful and precise. Over circular, repetitive, minimal structures of music that have a haunting, arresting effect. Hypnotic, magical, devotional music. Either you get it, or you don´t. I can´t explain it. That´s the beauty of it, I suppose. And the truly mark of the visionary artist.

Ghedalia Tazartes—“Une Éclipse Totale De Soleil Part 2”

Ghedalia for me represents the pure, untouched, sui generis artist. Applying the techniques of musique concrete to the ancient folk music of the Sephardic Jews with a raw energy that usually you can only find in punk, or blues. I see in him an archetype, the Fool card in the Tarot. The madman that opens the gates of heaven and hell, gives himself to these supreme energies and survives only because of his perfect innocence.

OM—“Sinai (live at Sonic City)”

Maybe the greatest rock band of the last 20 years. Here with Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe to maximum effect.

Charlemagne Palestine—Live in Holland 1998

Like Ghedalia, Charlemagne Palestine is a Jewish artist that works in the avant garde field but subverts it with the tradition of his folk music instead of sticking to the cold, cerebral, rational program of academia. He has his own world. Watch this and you will understand what I am talking about.

Virgin Prunes—Excerpts from Sons Find Devils/“Walls of Jericho”

There is a VHS tape called Sons Find Devils, comprised of live shows and short experimental films (some of them made by Balance, from Coil). I had it as a teenager and watched it countless times. Sadly, it is not complete on YouTube or elsewhere but here are some small extracts. With their heretic mix of Irish Catholic imagery, Irish Paganism, Bataille, performance art and post punk, the Virgin Prunes made a unique and extraordinary body of work. A testament of its importance is that Gavin Friday was guest singer of two bands in this list: The Fall and Coil. And Mr. Scott Walker himself invited him to sing on a play. Maybe the historians ignore them, but Mark E. Smith, Scott Walker and Coil knew where it’s at, didn´t they? Their record If I die I die is a masterpiece. Produced by Colin Newman from Wire, no less, if you need more validation.

Boredoms—Vision Creation Newsun

I like some of the more comical, early work of Boredoms, but with Super AE and this one they got me. They got serious and spiritual, channeling Alice Coltrane, tribal drumming, kraut rock and noise into a glorious, euphoric sound. Maybe they are not visionaries, but their music can produce visions. I saw them around 2005 (on acid) with the three drummers line up, still in this phase. I remember thinking “this is what cavemen had in mind when they invented music.” I actually saw it, with my eyes closed. Early humans. In caves. Inventing music. God bless LSD.

Aphrodite´s Child — 666

The one record I bought for the cover only, it cost me 50 cents, best deal of my life. A concept album about the apocalypse. Easy contender for the best psychedelic rock album of all time. Pet Sounds? Get outta here. An absolute masterpiece.

Tim Buckley—Starsailor

Tim Buckley is a mystery. He died too young. How he went from his L.A. folk rock first album to the absolute unique sound of Starsailor and Lorca is impossible to understand and a miracle of music. All six records in between are masterpieces. He was possessed by genius and has the most beautiful voice. I don´t know much about him, but his music put me out there.

Sun Ra—Night Music 1989

Watch this. Space is The Place, indeed.

Pescado Rabioso—Artaud

This guy, Luis Alberto Spinetta, is considered by many to be the most important rock musician in my country. So being an arrogant teenage punk, or whatever, of course that alone was enough to reject him altogether without even thinking. But a couple of years ago I was blown away by a book of poems he published in 1978. Incredibly beautiful, unique and sophisticated poetry. I recently started, too late, to listen to his music. This is one of his most famous and revered records. It´s dedicated to, and inspired by Antonin Artaud, who tried and failed to reach the mystic enlightenment, generating a body of work in the process which is a testament to his spiritual ambition, his radical rejection of the material world and his pain. Spinetta understood this, he said the record was trying to find an answer to Artaud, a way out of it, a way out of the pain. It´s psychedelic music of the highest order. The lyrics are incredible but you can enjoy it even without understanding them.

Dead Can Dance—Dyonisios

I kept forgetting this band exists. This new album is great. I listened to it non-stop during last Winter/Spring. It´s the perfect time because the record is about Dyonisios, so as a soundtrack for the rebirth of Nature it´s perfect. Probably their best work in years. Sublime.

The Fall—“Garden” (Live at the Hacienda, Manchester, UK, 1984)

No list of visionary rock and roll would be complete without Mark E. Smith. Famously he said, “I used to be a psychic but I drank my way out of it.” Indeed, there was a time, between 1978-1990, when he was possessed by something, injecting realism with mysticism, mixing high and low planes, exposing the supernatural forces that hides in the cracks of everyday life. He never talks about hell neither heaven, but rather the way they mix and manifest here on Earth. You’ve got countless of bands using occult/mystic imagery, and you know it´s nice but it´s just a game. You’ve got thousands of bands referencing Burroughs and the cut-up technique, but no one can write as Burroughs did. MES did it. MES wasn´t playing. He was a realist of the augmented reality, he told it like it is, in his fragmented, hallucinatory, unpretentious, visionary prose poetry.

There is a lot in his lyrics that can be read in a mystic, occult way. He left a lot of clues for the ones that can read them. His texts are kaleidoscopic, and they reflect what´s in your mind, really. I think he will be recognized with time as the great experimental writer that he actually was rather than merely an angry Mancunian punk. He had more in common with someone like Iain Sinclair than with any other rock musician. One of my favorite web sites is The Annotated Fall, where fans analyze his lyrics in depth. Pay a visit if you can, I can´t recommended it enough. In many ways, he was too intelligent for rock and roll, and that´s why he was misunderstood, but he didn´t care, he believed in constant work, never explain, never apologize. The Fall took all the best things in rock and roll: Can, Velvet Underground, punk, Captain Beefheart, and pushed it to the next level. Our favorite rock group ever.

Huun Hur Tu — “Prayer”

I tried to stick to Western, modern music but I can´t help including this.

[taylie-a-study-mochi]

FAQ 🌼

Welcome to my blog! I’m going to answer some basic questions here and if you have any other questions to ask that haven’t been answered here, shoot me an ask and it’ll join this #thetayFAQ #abouttay

What’s your full name? [Taylor Riley. I don’t give out my last name for obvious reasons! 😅]

How old are you? [23, my birthday is June 22nd. I’m a 96 liner 😏]

What are your preferred pronouns/gender and if you’re comfortable sexuality? [ I’m cool with she/her/they/them. My gender isn’t something I particularly label. I usually go with my given gender and don’t mind it, it’s just not exactly I suppose how I feel, however I am content and it’s not something that truly bothers me. So, calling me a woman or genderqueer is honestly fine with me. My sexuality is Queer/Bi. I also believe I’m somewhere on the aromantic spectrum!]

What country are you from? [USA, unfortunately. Midwest...IL, which is even more unfortunate.]

Religion? [I’m a very poor practicing Hellenic Polytheist. I’m an Aphrodite Devotee, but am obviously worshipping all the Gods. I am open to perhaps another devotion in the future. Right now, I need to have a stable somewhat practice. It’s only been two years...*sighs* mental illness man...it’s rough!]

Do you answer questions about Hellenic Polytheism and Religion in general? [Yup! I am more than happy to discuss that! I actually love talking about different religions and philosophies. I don’t tolerate any bashing though of any religion. 😒

Oh! You’re a student? [Hell yeah! Going for my screenwriting degree! I would love to work in television or video games. I also love to write novels/short stories/poems.]

DO YOU WRITE FANFICTION!?!?!? [LOL, yeah my dudes! I can write fan fiction for Supernatural, Harry Potter, and BTS! I’m open to anything with a reader, but if you’d like a romantic pairing the romantic pairings I write are, Destiel, WolfStar, Jily, Blackinnon, YoonMin, NamJin, TaeKook, JiKook, YoonKook. Otherwise, I am able to write bros being bros, chicks being chicks, etc! I also can write headcanons or reactions.

Are there any pairings that you don’t like will not answer questions about or write about? [I don’t write anything involving incest, or a non-legal age gap. Otherwise you’re free to ask but honestly I’m not a huge shipping person, despite the amount of fanfiction I read...I personally read for plot and because I love the “characters” so I’m super lame and don’t really have major hardcore ships besides like Destiel and WolfStar? Maybe Blackinnon? Oh and obviously Jily! Otherwise feel free to ask and I’ll let you know!

You’re an ARMY? [YEAH! Since Danger Era 😭 2014 was a positively changing year for me. BTS has been there for me through a lot of shit and I’m not ashamed to say I’m an ARMY! However, please don’t bash any members. I don’t have a bias. I have members I relate to more some days than others, sometimes always, but I honestly love every single one and I low key think biases can stir trouble if you don’t tread carefully, and that’s for any fandom! I’m always here to gush about them!]

Why is your current username that? [Well heads up, I’ll change it a lot. Currently though, it’s because bapsae is a jam, but also because I relate to the song, and in my way I am a complete and proud bapsae. 🖕🏻]

Favorite album? Song? BTS or otherwise? [DOOOOOOOOOOOOD. I don’t. Honestly picking favorites to me is impossible. So don’t ask, because I’ll end up naming like all the albums and songs of anyone.]

Halsey? [is that even a question? Fan since she started. Fan till the end. Ugh, fan is such an awful word. I got to find a stronger word!]

Languages? Ethnicity? [I technically at one point was fluent in spanish, but then highschool stopped 😂 so sadly very little Spanish, and I’d say I’m pretty decent at English, lol. I’d love to learn Korean but I’m very bad with languages and I’d have to have a very patient teacher. I don’t have the money for classes either. And dudes, I’m a whiter than an igloo. German/Polish descent. I’d be shook if I even had 1% anything else than white European.]

Politics? [ don’t even get me started. I do not talk about politics mostly because it makes me anxious about the state of the world and how ignorant people are but I don’t believe in political parties and I base my thoughts on others morals and beliefs versus red or blue or whatever other color, green? Lol. And no I don’t like fucking Asshole™️ and I don’t even wanna see his name.]

SUPERNATURAL? [ yeahhhhhhh, since ole dad went missing in 05’. I’m happy we’re coming across the last season and the story will finally end. It hasn’t been the same amazing awesome good show since Season 5/6. I mean I don’t mind it, but I honestly read more fanfic then pay attention to the show. And the actors, lol. I went to a con, and it was the time of my life. Supernatural is and was a big part of my life and always will be!]

HARRY POTTER? [ALWAYS! Love Harry Potter. That may be an understatement my room is actually HP themed. Like...I mean honestly Harry Potter themed like my walls are golden and maroon! 😂 and yes I’m a Gryffindor. I lean more towards Marauder Era, but obviously I love the original story as well. If you want pics of my room, shoot me asks.]

I see you speak a lot about mental health? [yupp, huge advocate. In therapy myself, future social worker/therapist whenever I can finally finish my undergrad and apply to grad school! I am super open about my struggles and anything majorly triggering will be tagged but I am real about everything.]

You have ADHD? [yeah was just diagnosed this year! It explains honestly so much and since starting stimulants life has improved. Focus still sucks. Memory still sucks. But hey, I can at least focus and memorize enough to somewhat function! WOOHOO! Also I’m in therapy and I will make you go to therapy ya sad sacks! 😉 but no seriously go to therapy. It’s awesome. Don’t stop till you find the right person. Don’t be afraid of meds. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself!

Woah! That was...explicit...? [MY FAM...I am a very sexual creature. I will totally non ashamedly talk about anything and everything sex related from in general to about BTS to about SPN, to honestly anything and everything. However it will be tagged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly don’t follow unless you’re 18+, but I can’t stop you so just FILTER THE #nsfw #notsafeforwork #smut

Recommend fics? [you can and you may also request :’) I do love to hype talented writers.]

Single? [HAH! Yeah, dudes I’m single and not particularly looking especially online.]

Do you drink? [cant with my meds! And personally I get anxious if I’m high or drunk so it’s not something I’m into but I’m sure I’ll indulge...once or twice a year 😂]

Any other questions shoot me an ask!

Requests? Shoot me an ask!

Just wanna gush? Tell me something awesome?

TALK TO ME! 👑

[rockrevoltmagazine]

AURI INTERVIEW

Symphonic fans will find themselves perfectly enthralled from this new, beautiful, epic musical endeavor out of the minds of Johanna Kurkela, Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish), and Troy Donockley (Nightwish). Releasing March 23rd, self-titled album Auri features whimsical melodic tracks to whisk even the strictest of minds to a world beyond one’s imagination. Proclaimed as “Alice in Wonderland”-esque, the fairytale melodies will let your mind wander like never before. From dreamy and passionate sounds to soft and capricious vocals, Auri is a project worth giving a thousand listens to. Senior journalist Anabel DFlux had the pleasure of speaking with one of the masterminds behind this exquisite project, the band’s very own Johanna Kurkela.

  “The band Auri was formed by three close friends who wanted to hear music that wasn’t out there in the world yet. We’ve all been fans of each other’s music from the very first note we heard, and have been collaborating on each other’s musical projects on many occasions in the past. So, I guess one could say, with us three, the spirit of collaboration has been ever present. Throughout the years it just developed into this vision, a shared dream of a unique, fearless, infinite open world of music, which we three might be able to bring to life together. But as it happens, life often makes us wait for our dreams, and so the three of us stayed quite busy with our separate careers, until in 2017, we were all finally free to embark on the long-awaited musical expedition together.” says Johanna when asked about the creative inception of this project. As to how Auri as an album was conceived? “The way the album started to unfold is still pretty much a mystery. We didn’t really talk about what the album should be like, or what type of songs to write. We didn’t have a concept, no main songwriter, no producer. Each three, we just threw in ideas and songs and collaborated on the basis of them, sending files back and forth, getting swept away by what the other one had done, added something new and then whisked the whole thing forward for further ideas and development. In a way it was like having a most uplifting and inspiring conversation between three people. Never once had we any disagreements, or thought that some tracks didn’t fit in with the rest. It was the smoothest sailing I’ve ever experienced in making music, as if the music was in a weird way coming from the same source, despite the fact there were three people making it.”

  Each of the eleven tracks on the band’s debut album feature an immense diversity from one another, while still exquisitely highlighting each member’s individual musical talents. Anabel proceeded to ask what inspired these verses. “For the music and lyrics, we drew inspiration from all the things we love. Walks in the forest and picking mushrooms in the fall, for instance, is where the first half of “Them Thar Chanterelles” got its inspiration from. Also, Patrick Rothfuss’ books, films we love, the people we love, the way we love, live and look at life, it all seeps through the music of Auri. The only song that was written before we started the actual songwriting phase in 2017 was “Aphrodite Rising” from 2011, which in a way was the preliminary attempt to start the engines towards a collaboration of some sort. However, at that time, we soon realized we needed more time and space to pursue the matter the proper way, and so the song was put aside and the dream on hold for six more years.” Says Johanna. “Even to this day, it’s hard for me to categories the music of Auri. We didn’t have any particular genres or languages in mind making the music, quite the opposite. Overall, I think we were just instinctively following the paths of music that felt right to us, not really caring if it was orthodox or not to combine things the way we did. It felt very liberating, working in this mind set, not having any pressure or expectations to confine us, not caring at all what other people might think or how they might feel about the end result. The only thing we strived to do was to make music that made us three go completely ecstatic, and have massive fun at it. And that’s exactly what we did.” 

Johanna eloquently continued with “I think, every artist is like a sponge, absorbing influence from things which feel meaningful. For the most part, it is a very subconscious thing, the sources which affect the art we make. In Auri, one can most certainly hear many influences, but rather than try to pinpoint them all, we’d prefer the listener to just shut the mind, and let one’s heart listen instead. For me, the magic of music has never been something that can be captured with words. It is a personal journey, a coloring book, the outlines of a scenery to be filled with each listener’s own emotions. There is no right or wrong in interpreting a song, if it jerks out something profound, beautiful and renewing inside the listener. For me the oceans of music are all connected. If it were up to me, I’d rather not categorize Auri at all, or any other music for that matter, but if need be, I’d probably call it  “World Music”, for the way it combines worlds of things.” It was well worth noting a question about the name Auri, as such a unique choice for a band title must have a story behind it. Johanna enticed my curiosities and revealed this: “The name of the band wasn’t actually decided until last year, when we started delving deeper into the album making and realized we needed a name for our band. We tossed around with ideas, and finally thought of Auri, which felt like the perfect name. Deriving from the word “aura”, meaning, golden, emanation, atmosphere, a soft breeze, etc. It is used in Finland as a girl’s name. And, it also happens to be the name of a character in Patrick Rothfuss’ books, a character who lives in her own world, almost in another dimension compared to the rest of the world, for the way she perceives life and the way she keeps to herself, only to come out at moonlight, in secret, to sit on rooftops of the world. She is a deep, deep mystery, and an achingly beautiful and infinitely intriguing one at that.”

  Anabel proceeded to ask what Johanna felt really pushed this project to become reality. Was it a natural realization that you were being drawn to create together? “When we headed out on this marvelous adventure of Auri, we didn’t really have any expectations or plans for it, other than just to release an album and see what happens. But pretty quickly, as things started to evolve, and due to the immense fun we all had while making this album, it soon became obvious, that instead of being just a one album project, Auri was actually becoming a band. In the future, we’re definitely hoping to carry on with making more albums for Auri and even do a tour at some point. It would be quite something to play this music live in ancient castles and cathedrals, for instance! But for now, on the immediate horizon, there are other more pressing matters keeping us all busy for the next approaching years. Still, luckily for us, we’re not in a hurry, time is just an illusion, and already, ideas for the next Auri album are starting to gently take form in our heads. Looking back on my own career, the length of over a decade full of solo albums and live shows, I still don’t really consider myself ever being a solo artist. There would be no Johanna Kurkela today without a plethora of songwriters, producers, record labels and musicians I’ve had the privilege of working with over the years. As a singer, I’ve always felt to be more of a piece in a puzzle, rather than the puzzle itself. And yet, I’m the only face and name the world has come to know through my songs. It’s a funny paradox. And even funnier still now that I actually am, for the first time ever, in a real band, in Auri, I feel like this is the closest I’ve ever come to expressing my actual self through music, the closest I’ve ever come experiencing what it really might feel like to be a solo artist.”

“And yet, Auri isn’t anyone’s solo album. It doesn’t have a frontwoman or a front man. For me, it’s just the feeling of finally finding the proper outlet for one’s creativity in music, being able to record and edit my own vocals independently, feeling completely at home in the music, finding such likeminded people to work with, and an environment without pressure or judgement, that you don’t have to hold anything back or make compromises, which usually, naturally occurs when working alongside people with different opinions and goals. The feeling of working from the same source with others, when being completely open and channeling your deepest emotions, has been one the most life changing things for me to discover in Auri. A sort of altruistic connectedness, which hopefully is something others listening to this music can also tap into.”

  “To be moved by music is one of the most powerful things. For me, it’s always been the most honest and reliable means of communication between hearts, sharing epiphanies, emotions, everyday challenges and joys of life, making one feel less alone in the world. And although some people like to add value to things only through numbers, in the big picture, it’s just smoke and mirrors. The true value of music, or any other labor of love for that matter, runs much deeper. Just like we all have the opportunity to define ourselves against “the norms” of life, the same applies in music. It is only through utter freedom of the heart that we can truly discover our full potential, the unique abilities each of us possess, and put them to use for the collective good. In literature, this is beautifully put to words in Walt Whitman’s poem “O Me! O Life!” : “That you are here – that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” With Auri, we have contributed ours. Hopefully it’ll inspire all our fellow-adventurers out there to do the same.” Finishes Johanna.

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AURI INTERVIEW was originally published on RockRevolt Mag