Do you want the boring version of this review? Aurora is an album from the same team that made Mirror to the Sky. If you liked Mirror to the Sky, you'll probably like Aurora. If you didn't like Mirror to the Sky, you probably won't like Aurora.
Not that this is a mere retread of Mirror to the Sky. It has similarities, but it's an evolution from Mirror to the Sky. It sounds like a more integrated band making a more consistent album. It is a better album overall than Mirror (although I still like the title track on Mirror more than anything on Aurora). There is plenty to say about it, so if you want a more detailed review, read on.
If you take the criticisms of Mirror to the Sky (and indeed The Quest), Aurora fixes many of them. Not enough keyboards on Mirror? There are more here. Mirror and The Quest too dominated by Howe as the main songwriter? Davison now equals Howe in songs written, with everyone contributing (Schellen gets his first co-writing credit in Yes). Mirror, like The Quest, could be overly mellow, but here the tempos and energy are up. I think Aurora is an album by a band showing increasing confidence in themselves. The band are not resorting to Yesisms to ape some classic Yes sound (although some listeners will want them to have). They're not going for a prog sound through doing epics, but are focusing more on that middle length that Squire always saw as Yes's forte. The progginess comes from eschewing a verse/chorus structure, the instrumental arrangements and the Apollonian lyrics. Davison is developing as a songwriter and arranger. He feels more sure of himself, although it is still Howe, it appears, who has pulled everything together. And the album took a while to come together, so it wasn’t perhaps an easy journey.
The band is the sum of its parts. This does not just sound like a Howe solo album or Asia or Arc of Life or Glass Hammer. Nor does it sound that much like pre-2012 Yes. It sounds like 2026 Yes. We are hearing the creation of a new band that brings together this line up and delivers their own style. Not a retread of ‘70s or ‘80s Yes, or even a synthesis between those, but a progressive rock band with their own constructions, with nods to different genres.
You have all heard the first two tracks. There is something about the overture to “Aurora” that captures the whole album. The way those early bars contrast instrumentation and tempo with its stop/start feel, that's very much what prog rock is about, and it’s what much of this album is about. When I first heard the album, courtesy of the lovely people at InsideOut, and before I knew what the singles would be, “Turnaround Situation” jumped out as the 'obvious single', a catchy song with a more straight ahead structure than the tracks around it.
I initially wondered whether “Turnaround Situation”, and also “Emotional Intelligence”, were commenting on our fractious, modern day, socio-political situation, but reading the lyrics, I think both are sticking to the personal. (Is the final verse of “Turnaround Situation” an explicit endorsement of belief in reincarnation?)
“Love Lies Dreaming”, a second Davison-dominated track, follows and is one of my favourites on the album. Davison often writes these very spiky melodies, which works for me here. Notably, he is also credited with most of the keyboards again, although Downes' piano on the verses is lovely and a crucial element in the song. The line “Like a room without a ceiling” does always remind me of Pharrell Williams' “Happy”, which perhaps was not the intent.
“Countermovement” is the longest piece on the album, a centrepiece and it has been praised by some early reviews. It is the equivalent of “Mirror to the Sky”, although, for me, the comparison doesn’t do it any favours. It is a rhapsody, four distinct sections joined together, with a little bit of restatement of themes to tie it together. It works as a single piece: the joins don’t jump out at me (although they are apparent if you listen for them). The piece is bookended by instrumental pieces by Howe (the mysteriously named “Taro” at the start and “Freedom’s Edge” at the end), but the meat of the piece is a heartfelt ballad about being a musical performer sung by Howe (“Anytime Soon”), contrasted with a more angular critique of AI by Davison, Sherwood and Schellen (“Blink of an Eye”).
“Anytime Soon” is sweet and possibly Howe’s best lead vocal delivery to Yes. I might even describe it as slightly Dylan-esque. “Blink of an Eye” has ditched the techno-optimism of Sherwood's earlier work like “Sophia” (from the second Citizen album) or “Minus the Man”. Instead, Davison sings lines like, “Wasted days race by in a blink of AI / I don't want to be a false identity, simulation imitation me”. It's musically punchy, with some quirky drums, and the lyrics have a certain poetry, but the whole piece lacks the emotional heft of “Mirror to the Sky” for me. Perhaps a song complaining about AI just cannot be as evocative as the mysterious “I dream of a sky without fire”. Overall, the whole piece has grown slowly on me, but I think it is a bit too slow and long. Cut the final movement and shorten the others, and the core would work better. “Countermovement” could have been cut down as much as “Ariadne” apparently was.
“Ariadne” is my favourite song on the album. It is a piece full of contrasts (which is a central part of prog rock, as per Edward Macan’s analysis of the genre). It is a song set in Greek myth (Theseus exploring the labyrinth, helped by the titular Ariadne). Davison has said the piece began as a much longer composition telling the whole tale, written by him and Downes for The Quest. But that structure is interrupted here by a contrasting section, seemingly by Sherwood and reminiscent of “Live or Let Die”, where the song comments on itself (“A hero's story from another age / Will we ever know”). The song bounces back and forth between these musical ideas and a third, an intro section by Downes, with differences in instrumentation for the different parts: the Ariadne myth is mainly orchestra and vocals, supported by electric guitar; the introduction is orchestra, keyboards and drums; while the commentary section is bass/guitar/drums. Then there's a maze sequence with Sherwood on vocals, and a brief acoustic guitar solo. It’s an idiosyncratic piece and all the better for it. An epic squeezed down into 6 minutes.
“All Hands on Deck” follows and, although this is not explicit anywhere, for me it very much follows on from “Ariadne”, as if a final part to the song. I think of “Ariadne” and “All Hands on Deck” as one piece. Maybe those who know more music theory than me can explain why they go together? “All Hands on Deck” is a short rocker, driven by a dirty guitar riff and organ, with minimal lyrics describing a shipwreck, before a final coda brings calm.
“Outside the Box” combines an acoustic intro with a more rocking main part. What makes it stand out is that the band eschew lyrics, although Davison, Sherwood and Howe all sing. In one interview, Davison described it as like “Leave It” with keyboards by Patrick Moraz. That gives the wrong impression(!), but I can hear what he means.
As with the two preceding albums, if less starkly, Aurora is still marked by a stronger first half versus a less essential second half, with the later, shorter tracks feeling a little anticlimactic.
“Emotional Intelligence” is fine, but the weakest song on the album for me. It’s heartfelt and with a pleasant melody and some nice organ work. It is another in a short list of Yes songs containing relationship advice, following in the footsteps of “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be”. As I said about “Turnaround Situation”, I was uncertain if this was a more general plea for how to cope with a time of increased political polarisation (particularly in the final verse), although it feels a bit inadequate for the task if it is. A moment of calm to end the main portion of the album.
Oh, but what is up with that? There are the two 'bonus' tracks, although I believe every version of the album includes them and the band want us to consider them as being equal material, so I will ignore that label!
“Jambustin'” is a term in Barbados for when people cut you off in traffic at a roundabout, which Davison picked up when he was living there with the Lodges. It is a fun, bouncy piece. It's the sort of piece that 50-60 years ago you would have been happy to have as a b-side. It doesn't take itself seriously and even does a callback to classic Yes (“Don't kill the whale, she's not for sale!”).
I do feel the need to point out that “Emotional Intelligence” (“I don't need to be right / No more will I fight”) and “Jambustin'” (“Why you always jambustin' me, pushing into my lane”) appear to have contradictory lyrics! Are we to emphasise empathy or push back on those who 'jambust' us?
“Watching the River Roll” is perhaps the most conventional song and a lovely album closer. Clearly a Sherwood composition with a sinuous bass line, plus a nice Downes keyboard solo, its pastoral nature is a nice way to stop. Maybe I am seeing things that aren't there, but across “Turnaround Situation”, “Countermovement: Blink of an Eye” and “Watching the River Roll”, Davison's and Sherwood's lyrics seem to point to a sense of trepidation around rapid change.
Overall, there are obvious parallels to Mirror to the Sky. Both albums start with an orchestral part; both opening songs/first singles reference celestial phenomena. There’s an epic part way through. “Emotional Intelligence” is a heartfelt singer-songwriter song about Davison’s relationship, like “Circles of Time”. “Love Lies Dreaming” is a mid-length song that matches to “All Connected” or “Luminosity”, while “All Hands on Deck” is a quirky rocker a little like “Living Out Their Dream”. “One Second is Enough” or “Magic Potion” could line up against “Jambustin’”. Albeit other songs don’t have parallels: “Turnaround Situation”, “Ariadne”, “Outside the Box”. From a helicopter view, they are similar albums, but close up, there is plenty of development and a higher average quality. This sounds almost like a young band continuing to strike out with a sound of their own.
I became a Yes fan shortly before Union was released. In my history of being a Yes fan, there have often been rivalries, Derridan binary oppositions with which to declare your identity. Back then, it was YesWest versus ABWH. More recently, it was Yes ft ARW versus Yes Official. Now, the current band is contrasted with Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks. This album isn't going to resolve any of these long running feuds in Yes fandom. It's not going to win or lose a battle with True or the forthcoming Jon/Geeks album. People may prefer one or the other. I think it's more interesting to consider it on its own terms, but the siren call of the comparison with True is hard to resist.
With Aurora, in evolving, the current Yes move slowly away from a traditional Yes sound. It's a line-up with its own sound. It's still a proggy album, Howe is still Howe, Sherwood’s bass lines have a Chris Squire influence, as Schellen's drum parts have an Alan White influence, and there are some Yessy moments, but some might prefer a more conscious imitation of the classic Yes sound, which is a sound which we of course all love. Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks' True often sounds like a Yes album, maybe because it's trying to sound like a Yes album. Aurora sounds less like a Yes album, which, arguably, makes it more progressive and, in turn, sound more authentically like Yes, if you see what I mean.
