There is something almost reassuring about the fact that, nearly six decades into their career, Yes are still making albums like Aurora. Their 24th studio record finds Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen refusing to become a heritage act. They still want to explore, to let the music stretch and find its destination in its own time.
The title track begins with what might best be described as an overture, suggesting something grand is about to happen before settling into warm acoustic textures. Then comes Davison’s voice, quite unlike almost anybody else’s – with the obvious exception of Jon Anderson – and suddenly it feels as though Yes are taking us on another journey somewhere beyond. The whole thing floats with an almost jazz-like freedom.
“Turnaround Situation” has a restlessness at its heart, never quite content to remain in one place, but that is the point. Aurora is a record constantly moving between serenity and complexity, sometimes within the same piece.
That is most obvious on the near 14-minute “Countermovement”. It is absolutely gorgeous in the way it wanders, taking its time without ever feeling self-indulgent. For all its ambition, there is something lovely, warm and welcoming about it. “Ariadne” is stranger still: an unlikely mixture of the austere and the overblown, filled with harmonies and layers of keyboards, yet somehow remarkably easy to love.
Then, without warning, “All Hands On Deck” breaks into a riff that could have come from Deep Purple. More immediate and muscular than much of what surrounds it, it puts the rock back into progressive rock. “Outside The Box” is similarly direct, although its real beauty lies in its simplicity. It takes its time, follows its own course and flows wherever it wishes, like water.
“Emotional Intelligence” brings the main album to a close in the same understated, calming manner that colours so much of the record. The piano seems almost to plink its way towards silence, leaving behind a feeling of peace rather than climax.
Perhaps that is what Aurora understands best. Yes do not need to overwhelm to transport the listener. In these tumultuous times, maybe music this warm, thoughtful and unhurried is exactly what we need.
