Off the Record with Johanna Kurkela
Guest interview by Kathy Criswell
2025 seemed like an extremely busy year for you and 2026 looks to be similar in that sense. How do you decompress and manage to maintain a sense of self whilst writing/recording/touring?
Well, I tend to go all in, whatever I set out to do. To balance out the intensity of work, I love taking days off, sometimes just knitting, de-cluttering, sleeping, or doing absolutely nothing of importance all day. I try to listen to my body and its needs, and even amid tight schedules create little oases of rest when the body calls for it. Staying connected to the present moment is the key.
When you create, whether it’s singing, songwriting, knitting, or any other outlet, do you feel like you’re making magic by creating something out of nothing?
That's a beautiful way of putting it. Yes, creativity certainly holds the air of magic for me. It often feels like an outer body experience almost like you're watching yourself from a distance, just "witnessing" the magic unfold in your presence. It's one of my favorite things, losing track of time doing something you love.
In the Auri song “Museum of Childhood,” there is a lyric that instructs the listener to “befriend your fear.” Have you done a lot of befriending your fears? Any one in particular that took a while to befriend?
Haha, that's a good one! Yes, I actually recall a very sneaky fear energy from my past, I ended up calling "The Projector Bogy." It was a very skilled fear in blowing things way out of proportion, creating the most impressive overthinking loops. But, luckily, with time, TLC, and patience, together, we have found a new way of approaching things and feel much more at ease and balanced with one another, as well as the outside world for that matter. 😊
In a society that treats aging like the worst thing that can happen to one’s career, how did it feel to reboot your entire career and identity in your 30s?
Frankly, growing older has been one of the best boons I've ever experienced in life! I never understood the big commotion and glorification about youth. It was the most confusing time of my life. It's not easy to make sense of this peculiar "earth school" we are all tossed into in life. Maybe some people are wired differently, but for me, personally, it's taken all this time to discover "what I was made for." Some things can only be learnt through experience, and wisdom accumulated over time. I never felt at home in the rush, nor "The White Rabbit Illusion," the constant fear of being too late. Although, sure enough, I too have felt its intense pull in the collective consciousness. At the end of the day, life is what we make of it. The key to both our liberation and demise lies in our glorious creative minds. How we choose to use that power daily is what inevitably morphs our reality. I find that thought very inspiring and empowering. We are what we think, what we choose to be. The only true limitations lie in our imagination, not in the outside world.
There is such a taboo about talking about women turning 40, but I think it’s nonsense! I’m actually super excited to hit my 40s. How have your 40s treated you? Did you wake up one day with a new perspective? Do you feel a sense of self that you had not had until last year?
I'm sure this answer is different for everyone, but for me, personally it has been like the level up I've waited for my whole life. Finally everything flows. There's clarity, purpose, and balance like I've never known before. How I wish this could've been my default setting all along, but that's the wonderful thing about life, it is a journey, and the only constant in it is change. And, until the revelation arrives, that we, ourselves, are actually the ones creating our own realities, life on this peculiar planet can get a little rough at times. There is a beautiful paradox and fine line between being one with all of life, but not carrying the whole weight of the world on one's shoulders. May love set us all free to explore, create, trust, enjoy and appreciate each moment like it was our last, with hearts the size of our cosmos and fearless as the sun.
We’ve talked briefly about how the pandemic thrust a lot of us into isolation and the ramifications of that. Now that we’re a few years post-isolation and you’ve been able to finally tour with all of your bands, do you feel any lingering emotional or spiritual side effects from that period of time?
Absolutely. I think one of the most empowering lessons the pandemic taught us all was to reinforce in our hearts what truly matters in life. For me, personally, it was also a lesson of patience and surrender. I feel so grateful for this shift back into moving, creating, and flowing again. But now having seen both sides of the coin, there really is nothing in life we should take for granted. Change is the only constant. Surrendering to whatever the present moment brings has become the door for me, to entering serenity, even in times of turmoil.
Do you ever get so lost in creating that you can lose hours or even days at a time?
Hah, that sounds so familiar! Yes, absolutely. Time bends in the most fascinating ways while immersed in creativity, doesn't it?
What is something you have achieved in recent years that you never expected to achieve?
My whole life as I now get to experience it! All the amazing souls I've had the privilege to meet, befriend, and share music with. My wonderful bands, Auri, Eye of Melian, and Altamullan Road. All the adventures, the treasure map island dreams now come true. Tours, albums, music. All the myriads of blessings and little angels along the way. Kindness from strangers lifting life to new heights. Also, how it feels to be alive at this very moment. The newly found balance and peace I never felt to this extent before.
You’ve somewhat amassed a small but extremely loyal and kind fanbase. Is there a sense of comfort that comes from looking out into an audience and recognizing quite a few faces?
Yes, most definitely! That's one of the things I love most about touring and doing live shows. The connection, the love, the support, and sense of community and belonging. Familiar faces in the audience, exchanging smiles, emotions, and sometimes even tears. All of life, shared together through music. That's where the magic of music truly shines for me.
What is the coolest thing that your music has inspired? I’ve personally seen so many cool things come from the Auri/Altamullan Road/Eye of Melian music.
Definitely all the art inspired by our music. It always touches my heart deeply when art inspires art. That's how it works for us as well. We write songs about the things that move us somehow, be it art, books, films, nature, people. It's a most fascinating circle of life.
Do you ever speak to the little girl in your heart and tell her things? I’ve recently started having conversations with myself in that sense and it’s been quite transformative.
That's beautiful! Yes. I think it's super important to speak kindly to yourself. My brother actually introduced me to this cute app called Finch, which is a fun way to receive daily reminders to increase kindness, self-care, and empathy in one's life. I think kind inner dialogue is one of those "from tiny streams big rivers flow" -type things. Like putting money in a bank. After all, what are us grown-ups, but little boys and girls pretending to be adults inthis curiouser and curiouser tapestry of life. 😊
I’ve always believed that the sunniest souls carry light on their shoulders with shadows in their pockets, which means that those who are truly kind and genuinely happy have also learned how to deal with those very heavy feelings in their own way. Do you agree?
100%. The cracks in us help the light shine through even brighter.
When the music just isn’t coming, how do you cope? We all know forcing it doesn’t work.
In my experience there's an optimal time for everything. If some days feel like the channel is blocked or the body and mind feel heavy, that's always a sign for me to tend to my body instead, to go for a walk, become immersed in warm water, cozy up, and just go easy on myself. It was actually the pandemic that helped me realize that we are called 'human beings' instead of 'human doings' for a good reason. 😊
Since you do have a lengthy career behind you, what do you feel when you see so many older photos of yourself? Does it feel like a different person or do you still see you in those images?
Wow, I really love these questions. I've never been asked that before. I think, yes, actually, it does kind of feel like watching someone else in those old photos. In some ways I feel like I've already lived many lives and shed many skins in this one lifetime. I love the fact that our cells regenerate every 7-10 years, kind of backs that up too. Even though I still carry some memories of times passed, all in all, they feel more like curious individual dreams than an actual timeline, if that makes sense. Life happens only in the here and now. So maybe, therefore, that's also the only place we exist. As soon as one takes a photo, it becomes the past, a place where we are no longer. Just a blurry memory fading into nothingness in the hands of time.
It’s the most delightful challenge to try and explain the network of musical souls in your life to those who are unaware. What are some of your favorite things about your bandmates/creative soulmates?
Well, their amazing individual gifts and talents, and ability to channel the most heartstring-twanging magic into this world, for sure! That's something I never get tired of witnessing and taking part in. It's also a massive source of inspiration and creative fuel to be surrounded by that energy. Even though I like creating in solitude, to have people sharing the journey with me is what makes it all worthwhile.
Any exciting announcements or projects you’re able to talk about?
In fact, yes, there is. Recently, I've had the immense privilege and delight to join Bear McCreary's band for a live show in Wacken this summer, July 31st, 2026. I'm absolutely in love with the music, and as a fan of film score music in general, this collaboration truly feels like the most magical dream come true. All thanks to the amazing James Shearman, who came to see our Auri show in London and connected the dots for this collaboration to become reality. Kindness truly goes a long way. It is the most powerful and humbling force of nature I know.
Two more questions, ones that I ask every time because I love the evolution of answers over time. In 2023 I sat in on my first interview with you and stumbled out the question “what were you made for?” Has the answer changed at all?
Gosh. I remember the interview, but hah, have forgotten my answer! I guess today my answer is, I was made to live, love, laugh, sing, dance, explore, and appreciate all of life's marvels. To greet each new day like it might be my last, and unlock the hidden beauty of shadows, trusting that, in the big picture, everything in life is always unfolding for the greatest good of all living beings, even at times when it is hard to understand how or why.
Last one: are you being nice to my friend?
This is a beautiful and such an important question. Yes. And I hope you are too! Thank you for reminding me, and the whole world, with your beautiful art.
READ MORE:
Interviews: On the Record with Auri (2018), On the Record with Auri (2025); Off the Record with Eye of Melian (2022); On the Record with Altamullan Road (2020), Off the Record with Altamullan Road (2024)
Guest Interview: Altamullan Road (2024); Auri (2025)
Podcast Reviews: Bear & Kathy Talk “Auri III” (2025); Bear & Kathy Talk “Forest of Forgetting” (2026)
Live Reports: Altamullan Road Kitee (2024), Altamullan Road Hyvinkää (2024), Altamullan Road Porvoo (2024), Altamullan Road Dordrecht/Zwolle (2024); Johanna Kurkela Yuletide (2024); Auri Kitee (2025), Auri invokes imagination in Tampere (2025), Guest Live Report of Auri in Tampere (2025); Eye of Melian tour pt. 1 (2026), Eye of Melian tour pt. 2 (2026), Eye of Melian tour pt. 3 (2026)
Travel Blog: Altamullan Road in Kitee (2024); Eye of Melian in Zwolle (2025); Eye of Melian in Zwolle (2026)
Guest Travel Blog: Altamullan Road in the Netherlands (2024); Altamullan Road pt.1, pt. 2, pt. 3 (2024); Eye of Melian in Zwolle (2025); Auri in Finland pt. 1, pt. 2, pt.3 (2025)
Gathering of Geeks - Trivia Showdown ft. Eye of Melian (2024), Auri (2025)
