Lathe of Heaven return with their second full-length album Aurora, a bold expansion of their sonic and thematic palette that unfolds like a series of vivid, emotional vignettes.
Rather than following a singular tone or mood, Aurora unfolds like a collection of short stories, each track offering a different lens into the band’s evolving sound and deeply reflective lyricism. Incorporating influences from mid 80s British and Finnish post-punk, combined with subtle nuances from 90s and contemporary underground pop, Aurora is an iteration of Lathe of Heaven’s sound previously unexplored, one that offers a delicate balance of their punk roots with captivating new-wave and 80s post-punk aesthetics. Recorded with Ben Greenberg at Circular Ruin and mastered by Brad Boatright, the album sonically is inspired by The Cure’s melodic rock, Musta Paraati’s gothic post-punk synth and intense drumming, and A Flock of Seagulls’ art pop vocals and guitar riffs.
Lyrically, Aurora doesn’t shy away from heavy themes. Envisioned as a collection of sci-fi short stories, it is deeply influenced and lyrically driven by themes of anti-colonialism, diversity, and equality. These stories are inspired by Ursula K. le Guin, Octavia Butler, Greg Egan, and Peter Watts’ novels, leading listeners to mythical, bold, and somewhat unnerving realities. The title track, “Aurora,” is set in a dystopian future where Earth is long abandoned due to nuclear fallout - it explores themes of loss, love, and devotion. “Oblivion” delves into the phenomenon of semantic satiation - say a word enough times and it begins to lose its meaning. “Exodus” reimagines Theseus’ Ship Paradox, narrating the experience of transferring consciousness into a new, perfect body. Elsewhere, "Portrait of a Scorched-Earth" stands as a direct act of resistance. One of the most emotionally raw songs on the album, it breaks from the band's usual lyrical abstraction as an unflinching reckoning with the horrors of modern warfare and displacement, rooted in the lived tragedy of Gaza.
Lathe of Heaven hope Aurora elicits a vast spectrum of emotions and inspires deeper reflection on the state of our reality and humanity. It is literary without being pretentious, political without preaching, and emotional without flinching. Every song holds a piece of a shattered mirror and what emerges is a prismatic, wounded beauty, staring back with a thousand faces. Set to be released August 29th, 2025, Aurora stakes its claim; "tremble without fear into dreamless oblivion." You are invited.
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