Quality guitar work and epic 80’s sounds from a sci-fi influenced New York band.

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Lathe of Heaven are most definitely not your typical band. Their name comes from an Ursula K. Le Guin novel, ‘The Lathe of Heaven’ (itself a reference to Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu). In the story a man is able to manipulate past and present reality through his dreams.

They released their debut album back in 2023, Bound By Naked Skies, which was heavy on references and allusions to different science fiction writing. Aurora picks up where it left off. This time the punk end of their sound is dialled down a little and the new-wave sounds come more to the fore.

In terms of musical references, the band site A Flock of Seagulls and the sci-fi tinged sounds of tracks like ‘I Ran So Far Away’ make a lot of sense in connection to the choices they have made. They also mention The Cure and cult Finnish band Musta Paraati, who are a new one to me.

Lead single and album title track, ‘Aurora’ was what grabbed our attention to them. It is a superb slice of 80’s referencing New Wave melodic guitar. If there was any justice it ought to appear on the upcoming final season of Stranger Things as it captures that same sense of nostalgia and excitement for that particular period. It goes a touch bigger than the sound on the rest of the album and threatens to go full Simple Minds at times.

‘Portrait Of A Scorched Earth’ stands out among the sci-fi tinged vignettes. It is a direct response to what has been going on in Gaza and is one of the most effective musical efforts to capture the sentiment that a lot of bands of been expressing on stage in actual music.

There are some incredible intros on this album. ‘Just Beyond The Reach Of Light’ sounds epic with the rolling drums and guitar. ‘Second single ‘Oblivion’ is equally awesome. The guitars jangle and shimmer in incredible fashion. The chorus is huge. The whole track drives along in a ferocious, though thoroughly 80’s manner.

Whilst there a few hints and nods to more contemporary sounds and styles this is very stylistically 80s through and through. It avoids being pastiche or a museum piece for two reasons. Firstly, this is an exceptionally talented band who completely understand what they are doing. None of these tracks are direct copies, they exude a collective flavour, but they are their own pieces. You could have imagined them appearing on Top of the Pops sandwiched in between Duran Duran and Billy Idol. The second thing is the interesting source material. Whilst you wouldn’t necessarily go, “Oh this track clearly links to…” the short stories they reference as inspiration such as Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “If I Forget Thee, O Earth…”, and novels by Octavia Butler, Greg Egan, and Peter Watts give tracks interesting angles and lyrics it will take multiple listens to unpack properly.

The overall effect is that of a cult film soundtrack, more Highlander than Flash Gordon. Highlander always being the most 80s-centric of Queen’s output. Listening to a couple of tracks, or the two singles will let you know everything you need to know about this album. You will dig the style, or it will not be for you. I absolutely love this album. I love it as a body of work; there are no weak links here. Whilst it has a thematic whole each track shines in its own way. There is a European tour pencilled in but no UK dates for now. They did a few in 2024 so fingers crossed they come back at some point.

Vinyl: https://amzn.to/4fZpskW

CD: https://amzn.to/3JBGaKT