Tarja's new album, In The Raw, will be released on August 30 via earMUSIC. The singer heralds the release with the new song and video for "Tears In Rain". The video finds the golden-voiced singer engaging in some roller derby. While training to film, Tarja sustained a coccyx injury but she remained undeterred.

In the clip, Tarja plays the roller Black Leijona of the all-female team Killer Crows. The Killer Crows are on the edge of losing the ultimate and decisive game of the season. However, by facing and overcoming her insecurities, Black Lejona is restored to her status as the team leader.

"For my third single 'Tears in Rain,' I was looking for a strong video," explains Tarja. "I didn't want to get into a cliché of tears and rain or a breakup story. The song is about overcoming difficulties that could apply to any aspect of life. The instruction I gave to director Florian Kaltenbach ('Victim of Ritual,' '500 Letters') was to avoid the obvious. I wanted an action video where I could take part. He proposed the roller derby idea and I loved it."

Naturally, the video presented a huge challenge to Tarja, as it was the first time she tried the sport. Unfortunately, her first foray into roller derby was not without injury. During training, she dislocated her coccyx.

"I haven't been on skates too much and I have been ice skating in my youth," Tarja says. "But I realized immediately that skating with rollers is a totally different thing. I had to learn, and I only had three days before the video shooting that took place in London!! I knew I was in trouble. It's already common for me to get hurt in my videos, and this was not an exception. I had an accident in a skatepark near my home and dislocated my coccyx - I broke my ass! Despite the terrible pain, I did two shows and the video shoot with a broken butt.

"So,  as in the story of the video, I myself overcame difficulties. If you see me in pain in some parts of the video, that is not acting. The roller girls and the video team took good care of me and I enjoyed the experience, despite my condition. I had a lot of fun! When I recover, I wish to take my daughter to skate with me. We both got hooked on roller skating!"

The very emotional, highly personal lyrics of "Tears In Rain" stand in stark contrast to the musical rendition. Heavy guitars, an impulsive melody, and Tarja's crystal clear voice make for one of the most powerful, catchiest songs of her upcoming new album In The Raw - if not the core song.

The song is also inspired by the famous monologue at the end of the Sci-fi classic Blade Runner. 

"Johnny Andrews can make me fly with his ideas for new songs," Tarja explains. "It has always been a pure pleasure to write with him. After years, he also understands my voice and music taste better, so the writing process is easier in every way. Even though this time we didn't sit in the same room while the song was shaped, still, I have to say this one makes me very happy and proud. When we had finished writing the song, I already felt it as one of the strongest songs from the album. It just has the energy that drives me onward.

"We used a very famous quote from Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner - a classic that sets the tone for the story in the song 'All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.'"

As the saying goes, 'not all that glitters is gold'. But then again, not all that is gold necessarily glitters. It was this idea that struck Finnish singer Tarja Turunen as she began work on her seventh solo album, In The Raw.

“Gold, we think, is something polished and perfect, sophisticated, a luxury - but in its natural state it’s a raw element," explains Tarja. Just like the music on her upcoming album: a combination of sophisticated and refined orchestration, choir and her classically trained voice with a raw, dark heavy musical core. Simply put, In The Raw is a gold-plated work of wonder.

 

Vinyl Artwork

 

Three years on from her last album, 2016’s The Shadow Self, In The Raw finds Tarja and her beautiful voice sounding, as ever, truly stunning. Working with many of the same musicians and production team as before, the intention was to bring out the idea of rawness to match the feelings Tarja was having from the very beginning of the process. The album finds Tarja going to raw, personal places in her lyrics. Opening herself up more than ever before, she says she was left feeling naked by her honesty, but also pleased at where she had gone with her words.

The first look at the album, the brand-new song “Dead Promises”, is all this and more. Matching the stunning power of Tarja’s voice with a thunderous guitar, the aggression she speaks of is brought to the front, not threatening to shatter something fragile, but reinforcing its power. “I really like how the guitar sounds: in your face,” she says. “If I’m singing powerfully, I need something powerful behind me so that I don’t feel like I am left alone.”

Fans will find that the album includes a different version of the song with guest vocals by Björn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork. Watch the lyric video for "Dead Promises" below.

The concept of gold and its raw state extends to the album’s artwork. In start, here we find Tarja in St Michael’s Cave, Gibraltar, framed in vivid colour and golden sheen.

In The Raw will be released on August 30 via earMUSIC as CD Digipak (limited print run including hardcover O-card), 2LP+Download, Limited Box Set and Digital. Pre-order here, or here.

 

CD Artwork

 

Tracklisting:

"Dead Promises" with Björn “Speed” Strid
"Goodbye Stranger" with Cristina Scabbia
"Tears In Rain"
"Railroads"
"You And I"
"The Golden Chamber": Awaken / Loputon yö / Alchemy
"Spirits Of The Sea"
"Silent Masquerade" with Tommy Karevik
"Serene"
"Shadow Play"

"Railroads" video:

"Dead Promises" lyric video: