Yes – Aurora Review

Yes has not inspired much confidence with their last few albums. Read “last few” as forty years. Their progressive rock influence has waned since the mid-1970s, and yet the group, in one form or another, has persisted. Their messy fallouts and reunions, perhaps the most staggering in prog-rock history, are never a dull read. But they’re never able to come out of the shadow of that drama. Their music just hasn’t been up to scratch in recent years. Brace yourself, then. What can the Steve Howe-fronted group offer in their sixth decade of creating? Not much, is the answer. It’s not that Yes has lost its instrumental touch; they can still play the hits after all. Had the Fragile tour not been cancelled, then it’d have been a solid indication of what the band can do as an anniversary outfit. Shut up and play the hits, as James Murphy once said of legacy acts. But Yes sees themselves as a contemporary tool for the better, and with Aurora, the title track of their upcoming album, they hope to cement themselves as active creatives.  

Many will wish they hadn’t after hearing this dated lead single. Mirror to the Sky was a rough listen. Those who dare to remember that 2023 effort will, understandably, be cautious to head into contemporary Yes projects. That fear is fair, and should persist on Aurora. Those who want to hear what Yes is getting up to will be disappointed to learn they’re creating theme park ditties for Disney, rejected ones at that by the sounds of Aurora. Listeners can be generous and call the lyrical nonsense on show here a “stream of consciousness” if they wish, but it doesn’t stop the song from falling foul of cliché. The Great Divide, the escape to the other side, it’s a song of heaven and hell, of passing on, but without the religious fervour or even the personal contemplation necessary to carry such a bold message. At the very least, the electric guitar work is quite nice.  

But Yes should know, more than any group, that the fundamentals are not enough to inspire. A solid guitar riff which pairs well with a series of crescendos, profile spots for solo work, and some quality vocal work from Steve Howe, is not enough. Howe’s vocal work is maintained phenomenally. That much is at least a positive. It’s a shame he’s singing of very little, as was the case for Mirror to the Sky. So little has changed for Yes, and that means much of the work, separated from its meaning, is strong. But it’s hard not to want much more from a band whose last great outing was the album they were celebrating the anniversary of this very year. Yes is never going to hit that peak again but they are at least trying to innovate where they can. It has been some time since the band picked up their instruments and succeeded, though.  

Aurora is another example of how legends of the past must interpret their work with new ideals, or at the very least, away from the repressive nature of repetition. Just because Yes worked well in the 1970s does not mean the same sound will work now. There is a failure on Howe and the band’s part, to change. All they’ve done is fix some new names to the band. Yes remains the Ship of Theseus of music, but at least boats can’t make follow-ups to Mirror to the Sky. A seven-minute progressive rock song that features the thrills of modern-day Yes. An empty song, then. Pretty vacant apart from that moment of guitar bliss, though the chances of that occurring again, and to such a degree that returning to listen to the song again is a viable option, seems slim.