Review
Aurora doubles down on the orchestral side of Yes. Paul K Joyce's arrangements sit beneath Downes's piano in the title track, so the band enters like a pageant before a single riff lands, and the thirteen-minute "Countermovement" shows the long form still matters to them. The sequencing is a deliberate split. The sprawling pieces come first, and the record closes on shorter, brighter songs, with "All Hands on Deck" the one moment that hits with real weight.
Where the record sharpens is Steve Howe. A nylon-string solo in "Turnaround Situation" slips loosely into a Hammond-driven section, and the middle passage rests on piano, slide steel and a rhythm section that stays patient. Billy Sherwood's bass work opens "Love Lies Dreaming" with real presence, and the mix leaves each instrument room without thinning the density.
What the album sets aside is the restless, left-turn unpredictability of the band's older work. The vocal harmonies are polished, the choruses lean toward soft-rock warmth, and Jon Davison's voice works best when it dissolves into the wordless passages. Opinion divides: some hear the strongest run this lineup has made, others hear a band following its own established grammar. The deluxe set's instrumental disc, which strips the voices from all ten songs, is the honest test, and it shows how much of the writing lives in guitar and keys. Aurora is a consistent, handsome record that stops short of the statement its opening promises.
