We recently connected with Auni and have shared our conversation below.
Auni, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I come from a family of musicians – both by love and by trade – but there was no automatic expectation that I’d be one myself. My grandmother thought I would be an architect; my teachers thought I would be a mathematician or philosophy professor; and my stint in a college genetics lab garnered an invitation to do biomedical research. All of these things fascinated me, and yet, when I thought about what I wanted to dedicate my life to doing, the answer was only ever: art. Our society so heavily favors the “money-making” professions, and sometimes I found people scratched their heads at why I would choose a life of instability and going paycheck to paycheck, when I could just do one of the other things. But when I did the other things, I was always thinking about making art; when I made art, I was home.
I took an inspiring class with Peter Sellars at UCLA about art as social action that really cemented things for me. We discussed the necessity of creating more empathy and using art to reshape the world into a kinder, more inclusive place for everyone. This resonated with me very deeply. We also read a book called The Gift about how art is an offering rather than a commodity, and that theme has governed so much of how my musical career has unfolded, though I only realize it now in retrospect. Not because artists shouldn’t be compensated for their work – they absolutely should – but because when you make something out of the deepest parts of you, people feel and notice. That is always the truest compass.
I spent many years doing side gigs to support myself making music – as a waitress, an academic tutor, a translator. By the time I hit my 30s, I began to look at my friends with “real” jobs and wonder if I was crazy.
And then something wild and unexpected happened. A little piece of music that I had recorded years back, as a homemade love letter to family and friends during the holidays, with no expectation I’d ever release it commercially, somehow picked up on social media and transformed my career. “Twinkling Lights” has connected me with so many people in the most beautiful way and reaffirmed exactly what the song is about – that the light is all around us, and that when we share it, we create the greatest magic.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I go by just my first name, Auni, as a solo artist. So that’s probably how most readers will recognize my name. And it’s pronounced AH-nee. 🙂 That being said, I use my last name as well in my composition work, writer/producer credits, etc.
I make folk music with whimsical string arrangements, and my sound often includes layered, ethereal vocals. I adore harmonies and have been playing around with them since I was a kid, when I rewound my beloved Sound of Music cassette tape over and over (am I aging myself?) until I knew every line by heart and could recreate it with my dad’s 4-track tape deck. I spent my teenager years listening to opera, which really informed both my love of dramatic tension and the way I write for instruments. In college, I discovered folk and bluegrass, and over the next decade, I found my voice and figured out how to infuse my writing with all the influences that make up my musical fabric. I also learned that I loved evoking imagery and emotion, so I hop into scoring projects whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I’m most well known for my song “Twinkling Lights,” as well as its younger sister “Twinkling Lights (Reimagined),” both of which grace social media feeds every year around the holidays. I never set out to write holiday music and don’t see myself as a “holiday” artist, but I love that this piece of music has been like a portal into some of people’s most cherished moments or the things they find magical around them. It has become a space of connection with other creators too, and I am so grateful for it every day.
This year, I am releasing a new piano-cello lullaby version of it called “Twinkling Lights Reverie” (out November 21). This iteration was inspired by the birth of my second daughter this summer. I composed it when she was just a few weeks old, and she was either on me or right next to me the whole time. It’s very much about the hopes and dreams we want to pass on to our children. As it happens, one of my best friends (Hillary Smith) is a cellist and also had a daughter this year, so it felt very fitting to invite her to play the cello lines. And the trifecta of mother-daughter energy was rounded off by Yaya Chang, an amazing Paris-based artist whom I met years back, who did the cover art. She created an absolutely magical depiction of me & my girls staring up at a starry night sky – all on the eve of giving birth to her own (third!) daughter.
I also have my first-ever vinyl pressings available this year – for the Twinkling Lights EP that I released two years ago. I included a few exclusive demo tracks on it as well, so I hope it will be fun for listeners to discover those!
Next up for me is releasing my full-length folk album that I finished this year. I released the first single, “Country Lane,” back in June and can’t wait to share the rest of the album next year!! It’s been about 8 years in the making, hard to believe!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Ooo very interesting question! I think the biggest skill I have learned over the past few years has been to let go of my work. I used to get very wrapped up in perfectionism, but I came to learn this was often just insecurity masquerading as perfectionism. Of course I can still get caught up in details, but the act of being able to accept a piece as it is and let go of it is a really important part of the process. Every recording is really just a reflection of a moment in time. And yes, I have to accept that maybe one day I’ll come back to something and not love it, but hopefully I’ll also smile at my younger, less-experienced self and be proud of having put it out anyway. Otherwise, we can’t move forward and create space for the new. Letting go is such a big part of how we learn and grow.
Another practice that has been really impactful is not comparing myself to others. This is a really tough one. Especially in the age of social media where everyone’s life and career seems to be splattered across your feed for you to admire, it can be easy to feel like what you’re doing is not good enough. But if there’s anything I’ve learned with the whole Twinkling Lights journey, it’s that no two paths are the same. And if I spent all my time trying to be like someone else and getting down on myself about how my career doesn’t look, I wouldn’t get to be me.
The third nugget of wisdom is trusting the timing. Sounds cliche, but timing really is everything. If something isn’t working out, let it be and look for another path that will flow more easily. This was a big one for me in finishing my full-length record. There were several points over the years where I was so frustrated about not being able to finish it, and I was hitting a wall. But, as someone once told me, if you’re really not able to finish a project, there’s often a reason why. More life to be lived. And it turned out this was exactly the case for me.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My biggest challenge right now is time. I’m a mom to two amazing girls, and I’m also in a dynamic phase of my career, so balancing music and motherhood is a dance I’m constantly learning to fine tune. There are times when I feel overwhelmed and exhausted, but my fierce love of both things makes it more than worth it. And, beautifully, I have realized that when the balance is right, these two aspects of my life are actually interconnected and elevate each other.
One big thing I try to do is to really be present with whichever hat I’m wearing at a given moment. It’s easy to fall into the hole of feeling constantly behind, but I’ve realized that it doesn’t serve anything. The to-do list will always be long. So just be there and enjoy whatever you’re doing as fully as you can. And then be as efficient as hell to make your time really count.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aunimusic.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/aunimusic
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/aunimusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/aunimusic
- Other: https://auni.bandcamp.com/, https://open.spotify.com/artist/2nUvyvqdFqe0pSmCDsoDjw?si=ihWjXZFGTdS0OaddPtcIqg
Image Credits
Jeremy Jackson for the personal photo and the additional photos, #1-6 David S. Marfield for additional photos #7-8.
