Nightwish have never been ones to think small, but their upcoming 10th album, Yesterwynde, is bigger, bolder and more ambitious than anything they’ve done before. Written over several months in 2021 and 2022, and recorded between keyboard player/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen’s hometown of Kitee and London’s fabled Abbey Road Studios, the 12-track record may not feature any side-long epics, but in every other respect it is, as Tuomas puts it, “a big one”.
How would you describe Yesterwynde compared to the other albums Nightwish have made?
"It’s probably the biggest album we’ve done. It complements the lyrics and the stories we want to tell. In the song An Ocean Of Strange Islands, there are more than 600 tracks. That’s a lot. It was hell for the mixing engineer.”
Is there an overarching theme or concept to the album?
“The major theme of the album is time - going back in time, recognising your own mortality. It’s about history, being human, but it’s optimistic. Despite all the bad stuff, we have the chance as a species to get together and survive. That’s the core message and essence of the album.”
‘Yesterwynde’ is a word you made up for the title. What does it mean?
“In late 2020, I discovered the world of black and white photos that had been coloured – the best example would be Peter Jackson’s [colourised WWI documentary] They Shall Not Grow Old. When I see them, it gives me a sensation I cannot describe – a connection to the past. I couldn’t find a word in any language to describe it, so I said to Troy [Donockley, multi- instrumentalist], ‘Can we make up a word to describe this?’ I came up with ‘yester’ and he immediately said ‘wynde’. ‘Yesterwynde’ - it was perfect. I don’t know what the meaning is. It just feels right.”
The first single is Perfume Of The Timeless. What’s the song about?
“I find it amazing to think that we all had a father who had a father who had a father who had a father... and this has gone on for millions of generations unbroken. That blows my mind – it has to be unbroken. If my great-great-great-great grandfather in the Stone Age had been eaten by a cave bear, I wouldn’t exist. Every one of them had to live long enough to pass on their seed. The chances that I’m alive are ridiculous.”
One track, The Children Of ’Ata, features native singers from Tonga. How did that come about?
“That song is based on a real-life story I read about in a book called Humankind: A Hopeful History, by Rutger Bregman. It’s about six young kids from Tonga who were marooned on a deserted island called ’Ata and spent 15 months there. It was like a reverse Lord Of The Flies - they lived there in total harmony. They were the perfect example that we can actually get along. We found five Tongan singers living in London to sing on the song. They wanted to meet me before: ‘This story is sacred to us. Why do you want to do it?’ I told them that it was a story of optimism. They were really relieved."
You’ve said that you aren’t going to tour this album. Is that still the case?
“The album is coming out in September. We’re not going to do any shows. The reasons are personal, we’re not going to go into it, but it was something that had to be done for this band to continue. There’s no bad blood between the members, nothing like that. We just have to take a long breather.”
Will you play shows in future, or are Nightwish done as a live band?
“Personally, I haven’t really given it much thought. I don’t know how long the break is going to be. We just signed a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast, so that is evidence there are going to be more albums in future. Nightwish are definitely not going to stop, so everybody stop worrying. We just need a breather from touring.”
Yesterwynde is out September 20
