Finnish Powerhouse Vocalists LAURENNE/LOUHIMO Return with Explosive New Album ‘Falling Through Stars’. Get ready for a sonic journey as Finnish powerhouse vocalists LAURENNE/LOUHIMO unleash their second collaborative album, ‘Falling Through Stars’. Blending heavy metal and hard rock with raw emotion and razor-sharp precision, this highly anticipated release once again showcases the electrifying chemistry between Netta Laurenne and Noora Louhimo. Released via Frontiers Music SRL, the album cements their status as one of the most commanding duos in modern metal. In this exclusive interview, the vocalists dive deep into the making of Falling Through Stars, the evolution of their sound, and what fans can expect from this powerful new chapter.
Starting in a good mood
Hey, girls, how are you doing?
Noora & Netta: Oh, I was going to say we are doing great [laughs]
And least you, you seem energetic because I feel that I’m ready to go to sleep.
Noora: Yes, well, that’s, that’s the vibe, you know, we want to give that we are not going to fall asleep, even though it is evening, evening here, yeah, but yeah. I had a long, long day today, in, in here, in the recording studio, but, but yeah,
Netta: I’m kind of relaxed. I went for a long walk, and I’ve done some office work, but I got the next music video that we’re about to release. I got it ready, and I got it sent to the label. So I’m, like, relieved, because it was a lot of work.
Laurenne/Louhimo new album “Falling Through Stars”
Let’s talk about your second album, “Falling Through Stars”, which is set for release on April 18th via Frontiers Music SRL. What can you share about its origins and the lyrical themes?
Netta: Oh, it’s a melodic heavy metal album that draws influences from all kinds of metal we love—everything from the ’70s to modern styles. Lyrically, it dives into common human struggles—what it means to be human. That’s something that connects all of us, right? We all deal with fear, hope, dreams, ambition, disappointment, pain, sorrow… It’s universal.
I find it hard to write about anything that isn’t about humanity in some way, because that’s where the soul of it all is. And that’s also something that connects me and Noora. This album became a space where we could talk about life, our lives, and our experiences—but also something more collective. I’m not just writing about my own story, but trying to capture the broader human experience.
Noora and I had a lot of conversations about that, and she co-wrote some of the lyrics with me. It was a cool process, and having her involved brought a new dynamic to the album. It felt like an adventure, right, Noora?
The friendship between Laurenne/Louhimo
Noora: Yes, it was—and beyond being an adventure, it also marked a new level in our friendship. We got to know each other more deeply. Our friendship began with the first album, so in the years since then, as the music has grown and evolved, so has our connection. It’s developed into something even stronger.
It was also really meaningful for me to contribute as a songwriter this time. I got to explore Netta’s and Nino’s writing styles and bring my voice into that process. On the first album, I didn’t participate in the songwriting because I was tied up working on my debut, but this time, even though we’re both always super busy, I made sure to carve out time to be part of it, at least for a few songs. And I’m really glad I did.
The approach to songwriting for Laurenne/Louhimo #1
What was it like writing together? Do you have a similar approach to songwriting, or are your styles quite different? And if they are different, how did you manage to blend your ways of writing into something cohesive?
Noora: I think we have some similarities in our approach, but also our unique techniques when it comes to writing. What stood out to me was how intuitive the process felt. There were times when I visited Netta and Nino at their home, and we’d just sit down in their home studio—on the couch—and start talking. Sometimes we’d share ideas we already had, and from there, we’d begin shaping and developing them together.
Other times, Netta might already have a starting point—an idea or a riff—or I’d bring in a melody or some lyrics I’d been thinking about. It was this organic process of bouncing things off each other and letting the songs take form naturally. But I’ll let Netta pick it up from here.
The approach to songwriting for Laurenne/Louhimo #2
Netta: It’s hard to pinpoint the differences between our writing styles—I’m not even sure I can define them. What I do know is that it was a really interesting process. There was a lot of conversation, a lot of sharing experiences, and things we both felt were important to express. From there, we worked on finding ways to shape those thoughts into lyrics.
For me, that part comes quite naturally because I’ve been writing poetry and songs since I was very young. I still write poems daily, so I tend to approach lyrics with a kind of rhythmic structure in mind. There’s this internal sense of how the words should flow, how they need to fit into the music to become lyrics, not just text.
According to Laurenne/Louhimo: “The lyrics must serve the song.”
That’s one key difference between a poem and a song lyric: a poem can follow its rhythm completely, but a lyric has to align with the rhythm and structure of the music. So in that sense, writing lyrics can be more challenging—it’s more structured. But it’s also freeing differently. It’s a balance of discipline and creativity.
Noora: Like we talked about earlier, the lyrics must serve the song, not the other way around. Even though there is always a message in the song, the source of everything has to be the music. The message is already in the music, and we just turn that into lyrics, and so on.
But the music comes first
Netta: The music comes first, not the other way around—and the lyrics should serve the listener, not us. Yeah, and…
Noora: I think it’s important to recognize that if you can include the message in the tones of the song rather than relying solely on the lyrics, then you can cross boundaries, especially linguistic ones. Even if someone doesn’t understand English at all, they can still feel and understand the song. That’s the beauty of music. That’s the goal. It doesn’t matter what I sing, lyrically; if the music already says it all, then I’ve done my job.
Netta: Yeah, I differ a bit in that case. I understand and agree with what you’re saying—that the music itself has a soul and a message, and as lyricists, it’s our job to work with the message the song already carries. But for me, lyrics are really important. They’re like the soul of the song, put into words.
I’ve always been someone who listens to lyrics first—that’s what stands out to me. Of course, some people don’t focus on the lyrics at all, and that’s valid too. There are two kinds of listeners, and both are right in their way. But for me, if the lyrics tell the same story as the music, if they’re in harmony, then you get this perfect balance. That’s when a song takes you deeper and stays with you longer.
Big dilemma: first focus on the writing or the music?
Noora: To get deeper into the whole song, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I totally agree. What I was trying to say is that, of course, I believe the lyrics should always serve and be married to the music. But even if someone didn’t understand the lyrics for some reason, they would still feel the message that’s in them, through the music itself.
Netta: So even if people don’t speak English, they still get the feeling and the emotion behind it.
Laurenne/Louhimo replies to the dilemma
There are indeed people who focus more on the lyrics, and others who just dive into the world of the song without paying much attention to the words—they just feel the vibe and receive the message that way. Yeah, yeah. I always say that music is poetry for the soul.
Netta: And it is. That’s true, yeah, yeah.
So it’s, it’s something that we all need.
Netta: So I think it’s a great style of poetry because music helps convey the message differently. Words alone can be limiting—the reader has to work to understand them and connect with the text. But music itself helps you reach the soul of whatever the words are trying to express. That’s why I think the way a song works as a poem is so beautiful.
Noora: So we all agree on this [laughs]
But then, first music and then the lyrics?
So in your project, you had the first music and then the lyrics, did I understand now, right?
Netta: Yeah, I always do it like that. I might refer to my texts or my poems, but I don’t write the lyrics before I have the music. The music has to give birth to the lyrics. It’s about the soul of the song, and the music tells me what it wants to say in the lyrics. So it’s about listening to the song and then trying to be as honest and true to it as possible when I write. Sometimes, I might remember a line from something else I’ve written, and think, ‘Oh, this fits here,’ so I take it and use it if it works, but that’s not the usual way. For me, it’s always about the song. Some people write the lyrics first and then mold them to fit the song they write later. How about you, Noora? How do you approach it?
The role of the car in Laurenne/Louhimo
Noora: Yeah, but the thing is, for me, I do it mostly the same way. I think it always happens when I’m driving in the car. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m isolated there, no one can hear me, and I’m just having my jam session. So I record the ideas on my phone, and it just flows from there. It’s usually the melody that comes first, or some kind of riff or piano part, something like that, that starts haunting me. And then, bit by bit, the lyrics start coming—usually, it’s just a one-liner or some part of the song, but it gradually builds.
Noora’s writer’s block
But sometimes, like with one song, I had a bit of a problem. Well, I’ve had many problems with songs, but one I can recall right now is when I was working on “Last in Line” from my debut album. I had the chorus in my head—like, I had it while I was in the shower, singing it to myself [sings chorus]. But I couldn’t come up with any other lyrics for a long time. I had to talk to my brother, who’s like my lyrical muse. I was stuck and I knew what the song was about, the feeling of being ‘last in line in a bad relationship’ or something like that, but I couldn’t get the words out. It was just the chorus looping in my head.
The solution to a writer’s block
Then, I had a kind of therapy session with my brother. We talked a lot, like I did with Netta, about our songs. And that’s when the lyrics started flowing. There are only a few people who can help me unlock that lyrical stream, and my brother and Netta are those people. I’ve also had blockages while writing with Netta. I remember feeling anxious at one point, sending her messages saying, ‘I don’t know what to do, help me!’. But she gave me some really good tips.
I also felt nervous, in a way. I appreciate Netta as a songwriter and producer, and it made me wonder, ‘Am I good enough as a songwriter when I’m with her?‘. It was like I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and that’s when my insecurities came out. And I tried to hide them, because I’m generally a very honest person, but I was still feeling anxious. Netta was loving and understanding, though, and she helped me through the blockage. In the end, we came up with really good lyrics.
Laurenne/Louhimo: “distant songwriting is bullshit”
Netta: And then it helped that we got to sit on the same sofa and go through it together—just working through that blockage, you know? Talking about what the thought behind it was, and how we should express it. So, we kind of pieced the lyric puzzle together, talking it out and finding the right way to express it. Yeah, I think that made a difference.
Noora: I think distant songwriting is bullshit [laughs]. For me, it’s all about being face-to-face, sharing the same energy and vibe with the other person. You need to have those conversations that have to happen before the lyrics come together. That’s the real process.
Team effort always works in Laurenne/Louhimo
Yeah, yeah, but it’s great that you were able to overcome the insecurity and the blockage. That’s how it works when you’re collaborating—it’s a team effort. If one of you is going through an issue, the other can step in and offer support to help get through it.
Noora: So that’s exactly, it could be exactly the the I think that’s the great greatness of of making music with your friend, that you can actually rely on them and, and kind of when you are having troubles in life or songwriting, then you can turn to them and not to be afraid of asking help, but it’s and it was also a great learning, learning moment, yeah, and process for both of us, from of each other, and also like about myself, I don’t Know About you Netta, but I’ve felt like I learned something new about myself as well doing, yeah, yeah.
Netta: Definitely. It’s always about reflection and how the other person feels and sees the moment. You always learn from it and pick up things about yourself, too—how you react to what the other person is going through, how you feel about it. Yeah, I think we had a very, very good time working together, even with the issues we had.
Working on an album is therapeutic
Yeah, well, it was working on this new album that was also kind of, it was therapeutic for you.
Noora: In a way, yes, yes, very much. It’s always about the music, especially those moments of songwriting when the ideas come. Like, for example, with the Laurenne/Louhimo “FTS” song—I was driving my car on my way to Netta and Nino’s place, and we were going to do some songwriting. I had this line going through my head, ‘I’ve got to get out of my head, get out of my bed’ [singing]. And when I got there, I was already shouting from the door, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got an idea for this chorus!
Netta: “Okay, okay, let’s record”.
Noora: It’s like that. You should see me when I’m at home and get an idea—I’m like a crazy person, running around the house, shouting, ‘Where’s my phone?!’ [laughing]
Netta: We both lose our phones five times a day.
Noora: That’s why you have to do the recording in the car, because you won’t close [laughs].
“David Bowie and Clyde” is a special song
Yeah, but in the new Laurenne/Louhimo album, there are 11 tracks. Is there any one of those tracks that touches you in a particular way? Something that you feel speaks about an experience you’ve had the most?
Noora: For me, my favorite right now for the whole lot of Laurenne/Louhimo—we were listening to the whole album together a couple of days ago—yeah, and kind of analyzing and going through the emotions. And for me, the last song, “David Bowie and Clyde,” got kind of stuck in my soul in a way that it’s still resonating with me after that listening session. And even though it’s the least metal song—it’s not a metal song at all—it’s so full of love and emotion. Especially because it feels like a love letter to your friend, from each other, you know? That mutual respect and love towards a friend. And yeah, it’s just a special song. I love it, and I love to sing it as well
Netta: Yeah, I also love “David Bowie and Clyde,” because I think that’s the most… I think that’s the core of me. If there weren’t any production on the songs, that’s how I feel they are—very minimal. And maybe it’s also because I love ballads.
We all love ballads
Noora: I love ballads, too.
Netta: Maybe I love ballads, and I love this kind of minimalistic way of saying, doing, and feeling a lot. It gives a sense of relief and comfort that the song leaves you with. And it’s also— I wrote it as a love letter to our friendship, because we are talking to each other in it. And the things in the song, they’re real things that we had discussed earlier, before I wrote it. So it was kind of acknowledging that we have a lot in common. There’s mutual respect, and then there’s the way we’re similar, and the way we’re different—how we connect and fulfill the whole circle with our personalities, and how we are in music, and what we see. So it’s a very beautiful song.
But I also like the kind of dangerous, blue-cannon attitude of “Rotten Gold,“ because it feels like it might lose it at any second, like it could just explode. There’s something cool there.
The most fun and exciting adventure action movie in an album
Noora: For me, the whole album—it’s like, like I told you, Netta—after listening to it… Oh, first, we listened to it a couple of times in that first round, and I was like, this is like the most fun and exciting adventure action movie in an album, with a happy ending. And I think it’s just so entertaining—the whole album, I mean. It’s so exciting, and there are these arrangements that are surprising and fun. I just really, really like the album.
And also, I saw the video that Netta had just sent to the label—she did all the editing herself. She can seriously do it all. I saw the video during the same session, and I was just blown away. Like, it’s fucking epic. Yeah, it’s gonna be such a blast for people to see the video for “Falling Through Stars” (The video has been in the meantime already been released).
Do artists listen to their own music?
I’m curious to know—do you ever listen to your Laurenne/Louhimo music when you’re just listening to music? Or do you only listen to it before releasing it? How does it work for an artist?
Noora: Same. But for me, it’s like—I don’t entertain myself with my own voice. When I listen to my songs, it’s usually just for rehearsing purposes. I’m not like, “Yeah, let me put on my own music!” [laughs] I don’t do that. If I’m listening, it’s for work—either rehearsing or during listening sessions to analyze what we’ve done. But I never listen to it just for fun, like, “Hey, I want to hear myself.” It’s always more about the work.
“Once it’s done, you feel like you want to throw up the whole album…”
Netta: Same here. I think it’s very hard to listen to the album afterwards. It takes a lot… usually I listen to the album, like, a year after it’s come out. Just so I’ve stepped away from it enough to be able to hear it as an album again. Because, you know, being in the process of making the album—producing it, editing for hours—you end up listening to it so much that you start to hate everything about it. It’s just technical at that point. And once it’s done, you feel like you want to throw up the whole album because it’s been on repeat for months. You know, if anyone listened to the same song for that long, it would get to be too much.
“….usually it’s about a year”
But I always… yeah, usually it’s about a year. And now, we just listened to it a few days ago, which is a year from when we sent Laurenne/Louhimo to the label, last May. So it’s been a year, and it was great to finally listen to it again together with fresh ears. Just taking it in as a listener, as an outsider, almost—how it feels when you’re not inside it anymore.
Noora: Same here. Yeah, it’s out of your system, so to speak. Yes, yeah. And also, I have to admit that I haven’t listened to the Laurenne/Louhimo first album “The Reckoning” yet, after we got it, because we did the music videos and listened to it a lot during that time. For me, it takes a few years with every album I’m involved in—or even a song—just to kind of chew it down. I need to forget about it almost. And then, I’m like, “Oh, I was in this too,” and it becomes this nostalgic thing.
“I want to take a nostalgic trip when…”
I want to listen to my own songs when I want to take a nostalgic trip, like remembering what I’ve done, who I worked with, and what memories it brings back. So if we’re talking about entertainment, it might be that—listening to our own music just to remember those moments.
Like, for example, were we in COVID times? We were making one or two music videos during that time. It was such a great trip—and it was my first time in COVID times. The album brings back a lot of memories from that trip, and also from the sessions we had. I remember the first demos, the first sessions—we were drinking wine, listening to the demos that Netta and Nino had already done. I was hearing the first songs for the first album, and we were kind of tipsy, filming everything, laughing a lot. It just gives me so many good memories.
“I haven’t yet been able to lose that inner perfectionist…”
Netta: I think the thing is also that, for me, I haven’t yet been able to lose that inner perfectionist—the one who thinks everything is shit. When you’ve just finished an album (even the Laurenne/Louhimo ones), it feels like it’s the shittiest album of all time. Like, “You did a horrible job, and you feel ashamed to even listen to it”. It’s that feeling of terror.
And then, once you get your head together and step away from it, do something else—you start to be more gentle with yourself. You can finally put things in perspective. Because it’s that inner voice going, “I could’ve done this, I could’ve done that“, but the time was up. You always think, “If I had more time, or if I’d done it differently, it would’ve been better“, you know?
Taking some perspective
There’s this constant sense that something still needs to be fixed. When you’re deep in it, it’s hard to feel anything else. You need time to pass between that overwhelming feeling and the actual understanding of what you created. Only then can you start to listen to it objectively—to hear it without that initial ugh, this sucks reaction.
So yeah, for me it’s always the same process. I come out thinking I’ve done a terrible job, that I should’ve done it differently. And then, with time, I have to forgive myself… just to be able to listen to it again
Noora: So yeah—and hey, I have to say, you didn’t do a bad job at all. You did great. [laughs] I can be the balancer here, like—hey, nothing is shit. Our new album, Falling Through Stars, is one of the best albums you’ll hear this year. We listened to it together recently, and Nino was there too
Netta: It was beautiful how it all felt.
Noora: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
But I can relate to you, Netta, because I’m not making music, so I can’t relate in that way. But when I take photos during gigs, especially afterward, like today, I look at the pictures I took two weeks ago and think, “They’re terrible. Why didn’t I do this or that?” But if I give it some time, like half a year, I’ll think, “Okay, maybe they’re not as bad as I thought.”
Netta: Then you see the picture for what it is. It’s a cool picture. The inner critic has faded away, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
“You always find time for your friends.”
But you have so many things going on in your life besides the Laurenne/Louihimo projectwith all the bands and projects. So, how do you find the time to focus on your own project?
Noora: In this project, of course, we make time for things that are important to us. As I’ve said before, you always find time for your friends. And usually, the only way I get to see my friends is through a project [laughs], because otherwise, I fill my schedule with other projects. It’s almost like an illness—I just can’t stop taking on new things. I have to keep hustling. And then I wonder, “Why am I so tired?”
“You’ll do anything for it”
Yeah, I can relate to that too, but not with music projects—more with everything else.
Noora: But it’s also like, when you have so much passion for this and art, you’ll do anything for it. You make time, you even put your health aside, even though it’s not good for you. It’s like, when you get obsessed, you can’t stop. And with music, it’s always like that. When you’re in those recording sessions, you forget to eat or drink or anything. You have to set an alarm clock or something to remind you to eat or drink, you know? And of course, with production—editing and everything, when you get into that flow, it’s really hard to focus on anything else. You just obsess about it until it’s done. [laughs]
Netta: So it’s, yeah, it’s the last few days and weeks of finalizing the Laurenne/Louhimo album. It’s like, you don’t sleep, you don’t leave the studio anymore. You’re just there and maybe have a nap of an hour or two because, because, at some point, point you you just die, so you have to sleep a little.
Noora: Yeah, and someone’s like, “Should you go shower or something?” [laughs]
Trying to achieve the goal
Netta: Like, I’m, I think I’m very rigid in a way. I kind of think about making a song. I make a—I say that, okay, today is a—today we have to make a song. Or in four hours, we have to make a song. And I kind of keep pushing that. And if I said that we have four hours to write a song, the song will be ready in four hours. It’s like pressing. I see that we have one hour. Okay, we have to move forward. We don’t have a C part. We move forward. What’s the—how? What? How are we going to—do we talk about, do we have a C part, or do we not? Do we have a solo of some instrument, or guitar, or keyboard, or whatever? It’s like, inside the time limit, you have to give birth to the song.
Trying to achieve the goal, part 2
And I don’t give kind of—I do not give myself permission to stop and try another day. It’s like the decisions you make now are the decisions that are for the song, and sometimes there, you only have a little time, and then when you press it, something comes out. And that’s why, when the album is done, that you don’t know what it is, because you feel like you are totally out of control and you don’t know what you’re doing, and it’s—but, for me, it’s the rigidness of the timetable, not waiting for an inspiration or making excuses.
Trying to achieve the goal, part 3
It’s just that whatever it is, it has to come up in two hours, and that’s the song. And if it’s shit, you throw it away, but, but you have to make it ready, like, that’s the song, and all of the decisions have to be done within that time limit, and then you come to this very intuitive way of feeling the song. So you make the decisions based on not analytical thinking, but gut, you know, it’s like, no, this is—this doesn’t feel right. This, this, this, this. And then you just have to, like, trust. Yeah, let it go and trust that it came out right, and that’s why you can’t listen to the album.
Noora: Oh, did I make the right decision? Did I have the right feeling?
Netta: Ah, yeah. What the hell did I do?
Future plans for Laurenne/Louhimo
Do you have any plans to do any live gigs for Laurenne/Louhimo?
Noora: Not yet, like we, you know, we are super, super busy, and we never say never. But for now, we don’t have any scheduled shows together for Laurenne/Louhimo. But, of course, it would be cool to have, yeah, but then, it should be, like, we should have a few shows, yeah.
Netta: And then when it comes to the scheduling thing, because it doesn’t make sense to rehearse a band, because we are a duet. We’re not a band. We have to hire musicians, maybe the ones that are on the album, or maybe someone else, we don’t know, but we have to hire musicians, make them rehearse the whole album. It doesn’t make sense to make it for one gig. So it would have to be some kind of mini tour. And then the scheduling becomes more difficult, because, like I said, Battle Beast is always on the road, and not as always on the road. So, yeah, yeah.
Noora: But someday, we would love to do that. We would love to get there. We don’t have an expiration date.
Netta: No, no, we don’t. Well, I don’t, I don’t know, after 100 years [laughs]
Noora: Then we’ll be in holograms, yes, or we’ll have frozen ourselves and wake up again in 200 years, you know, with the way technology is going. [laughs].
Conclusion
But we are at the end of this interview. Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans and the people reading this interview?
Noora: Ah, I have so many things to say, but what comes to mind right now is that I want to thank you all so much for your love and support toward us, Laura and Elohim, up until now. Thank you for supporting our first album, and get ready for our second album, Falling Through Stars. It’s going to be, as I said, exciting, epic, and entertaining—like an adventure action movie in your head and your ears, with a happy ending and a lot of emotions. A lot of really cool stuff. I can’t wait for you all to hear it and feel it with your gut, and to tell us what you get from the album. I’m also really excited for you to see the EPIC music video that Netta has done with the editing—it’s amazing! Yeah, I’m just so excited.
Special edition on vinyl
Netta: Yes, I agree with everything that Noora said. It’s just that “Falling Through Stars“ is a very beautiful album in its essence and its feeling. We were talking about this when we were listening to it with Noora a couple of days ago, how it feels more grounded, more connected to the earth, rather than lifting it into something light and excitable. There’s a sense of comfort and something deeply comforting in it. We just can’t wait for all of you to listen to it, and thank you so much for all the support and love.
Noora: Yes, and we also did some signed vinyls! We have a special edition of our first album, “The Reckoning“, on vinyl, as well as “Falling Through Stars“ vinyl. These will be sold as a package, so you can get both albums in a unique, collectible format.
Netta: So, the special edition vinyls are limited to only around 60 copies. They feature our own custom colors—“The Reckoning“ is in a sexy pink, and “Falling Through Stars“ will be in a vivid royal blue. Plus, they are all signed by us!