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Prog icons Yes’ 24th album Aurora continues the band’s late-career creative streak. It’s their third studio LP in five years, following 2021’s The Quest and 2023’s Mirror To The Sky, and completes what guitarist Steve Howe calls a trilogy.
“It’s not something we planned, but every time we finished an album, we had an idea or two left over which became the start of a new album,” he tells Prog.
He credits InsideOut label boss Thomas Waber for inspiration. “He’s very clever. He said, ‘Mirror To The Sky was absolutely fantastic, but can you turn up the heat, take it to the next level?’ That kind of enthusiasm isn’t wasted on me.”
The 10-track Aurora certainly fits in alongside its predecessors. The lush title track begins with solo piano (“something we haven’t done since Awaken,” says Howe) and features the 64-piece Czech National Symphony Orchestra, overseen by arranger Paul K Joyce, who worked on the previous two records. Singer Jon Davison’s lyrics for the song were inspired by Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda’s 1945 spiritual treatise Autobiography Of A Yogi.
Other songs on the album, which features a customary cover by the band’s longtime artist Roger Dean, include the sprightly Turnaround Situation, the mythologically-influenced Ariadne, and Jambustin’, the latter partly inspired by time Davison spent living in Barbados.
“Jon came up with all these ideas, and I said, ‘Jambustin’ – what’s that?’” says Howe. “Apparently it’s a term for aggressive drivers, people who cut you up. I think every country has their own version of that.”
Aurora dials back the epics, with only the multi-part Countermovement – which sees Davison, Howe and bassist Billy Sherwood share vocals – weighing in at more than 10 minutes.
“I think four or five minutes is a great length for a song,” says Howe. “You can really get a lot into that time while leaving people wondering, ‘What was that?’ But then, when you’ve got a 13-minute song like Countermovement, you do have a bigger canvas to play with.”
Aurora is the second Yes album to feature Jay Schellen, who toured as back-up drummer for Alan White before replacing him after his death in 2022. Schellen aside, the rest of the band – rounded out by keyboard player Geoff Downes – have been playing together since 2014, making this the longest-lasting Yes line-up since the 1970s.
“In the past we’d do two albums, then whoops-a-daisy, somebody’s gone and someone else has come in,” says Howe. “With this line-up, we work together well. It’s a happy ship. If it wasn’t a happy ship, I wouldn’t bother doing it because I’ve been in that position in the past.”
Prog said of Aurora in our recent review: “While it isn’t a rehash of Yes’ greatest hits, it’s the band’s strongest and most effective collection for many years. Taken on its own terms this is an album of quality, carefully crafted and beautifully produced, which deserves to be enjoyed as a worthy representation of who this venerable band are in 2026.”
With the release wrapping up their loose 2020s trilogy, what’s next? Howe has absolutely no doubts, as he insists that there’s still fuel in the tank. “We do have a few bits left over from this album,” he says,“but I think the next album we’ll go off in a fresh direction. We could go in any direction we want.”
Aurora is on sale now.
