You may be asking who the heck AURORA is. She is a strange artist who kind of "appeared" from the depths of Norway. Originally too shy, her parents loved her singing and she recorded a song for them as a gift (what came to be Puppets). She ended up on Glassnote recordings and released her debut album in March of 2016.
The strange thing of this album, is they are more like 2 EPs that are a whole album. According to AURORA, step 1 in an inward introspective process while step 2 is an outward process. Hence on the covers one is going inward and the other is pushing out. If you are willing to fork some extra money to get a Japanese deluxe edition of the CD, their edition has the EP all on one disc so you can hear it as a full album. Nevertheless, because of the nature of the emphasis, both "EPs" stand well on their own without having to be intertwined together.
I love Step one and Step two for different reasons, but I feel like Step 2 stands out more. The lyricism is stronger, bolder, and more catching. The melodies more experimental in places than her debuts and the first step. She is gradually taking different artistic steps and I am always interested in what she does.
The album begins with "The River", which seems a lovely ode to emotion itself. How crying and allowing yourself to feel can cleanse you and help you move forward. After all, a rainbow cannot come without the rain.
"Animal" is the least appealing song on the album to me. It isn't bad, but I feel the lyricism is lacking and seems like a filler track that did not speak to me.
"Dance on the Moon" lyricism makes me think of an elderly couple realizing time is coming for them eventually, that pesky time which eventually takes us all at a certain age. Yet it seems whimsical and loving in feeling, as if death does not frighten her.
"Daydreamer" is more a call to say hey, book reading loners are not bad people nor are they necessarily boring. Those people dreaming every day though, should be brave and express themselves. No one should feel they are irrelevant or dull. Everyone has something magical about them.
"Hunger" is a bit of a complaint about how we as humans are never satisfied with anything. We destroy, fight, yet we still always have a hunger.
"Soulless Creatures" is possibly one of the most compelling and beautiful songs I ever heard in my 23 years of life. The melody, the lyrics, everything comes together to make a rarely perfected track. I think it captures heavily how human relationships, good or bad, become part of who we are.
"In Bottles" I feel really represents codependency issues to a T. The sacrifice of the self and personal emotions and losing part of yourself. The song is very unique and stands out from a lot of her other work.
"A Different Kind of Human" feels more like a strange interlude and takes you out of the album a bit. It feels a bit like the person is dreaming that the angels are taking them away from the corrupted earth, after seeing so much pain and suffering upon it.
"Apple Tree" is meant to encourage the young and also to speak of the power of women and their human-bearing. It is up to all of us to make the world a better place and not let those tossing "explosions" our way hold us back.
"The Seed" is a strong reference to pollution and greed ruining the environment and world we live in. Unusual for Aurora, it has a bit of an angry tinge to it that makes it very compelling. The bridge keeps me coming back though, beautifully done although a good piece of it is melodic chanting. It just fits.
"Mothership" is the closer and takes us back to "A Different Kind of Human". It is a short epilogue in a way, saying that the good ones always die so they bring them "home". Sadly, throughout history, there's a lot of truth to this matter. Those who try to do the most good and make the most positive change, end up assassinated.
Lyrics: 8/10 - Some songs are certainly more compelling than others.
Music: 9/10 - There's barely anything musically I dislike.
Overall: 9/10 - I think it is a strong body of work, and I hope AURORA gains a lot more recognition in the future. She deserves it.
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