Yes Set to Unleash New Album, ‘Aurora’

Yes are gearing up to release a new album, Aurora, on June 12. The band currents brings together Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen. Ahead of the album's release, the band unleashed the set's title track, which you can listen to below.

“Making this record was joyful, a chance to play, explore and give everything to the music,” Howe said in a statement. “It's always been about collaboration, somebody can write a song, but until everybody puts their contribution in it isn't really a Yes song. We’re not trying to echo the past; we’re carrying the spirit of Yes forward and turning it into something new.”

Aurora marks Yes' 24th studio album and their follow-up to 2023's Mirror to the Sky. The set will arrive digitally, on CD and as a two-LP collection, as well as with limited-edition deluxe editions that feature a bonus disc of instrumentals and a Blu-ray with devoted audio mixes. All formats are currently available for preorder.

Yes also said in a collective statement about the set, "When Yes first began sketching out ideas for what would become Aurora, the process was loose and exploratory. There was no preconceived concept at the start, just a collection of musical fragments that gradually began to find one another and take form."

Yes added, "Among these early sketches was a piece titled 'Aurora,' and it quickly became clear that the name carried certain gravity. It suggested light, emergence, and a sense of vastness, qualities that resonated deeply with the band."

In other news, Howe and Yes recently postponed their European and U.K. tour to allow Howe to recover from surgery. Thankfully, he's expected to have a full recovery, and the band plans to hit the road again.