Aurora

Aurora is YES‘ twenty-fourth studio album, released 12 June 2026 on InsideOut Music.

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. 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.

Jon Davison: “The title immediately resonated with Steve Howe and sparked visual inspiration for artist Roger Dean, setting a conceptual tone that would guide the project.”

Work on ‘Aurora’ began almost as soon as the ‘Classic Tales of YES’ tour ended in 2024. The idea of a new album surfaced quickly and with the label’s encouragement, the band had the time to develop material organically. Rather than gathering in a single studio for months, they embraced a modern workflow; ideas were born in home studios, shaped independently, and then woven together through constant collaboration. Downes and Howe often acted as the central creative axis, with Howe, as producer, serving as the point through which all ideas eventually flowed.

Across ‘Aurora’, each track carries its own character. Some echo the classic YES approach, others push into new territory, but together they form a cohesive whole that honours the band’s heritage while embracing forward motion. With their 24th studio album, YES demonstrate not just longevity, but a sustained curiosity, a desire to keep exploring, keep refining and keep discovering their
capacity to create.

Personnel

Steve Howe
Guitars, Vocals

Geoff Downes
Keyboards

Jon Davison
Vocals, Guitars

Billy Sherwood
Bass, Vocals

Jay Schellen
Drums

Recommended Versions

Aurora is available as:
Limited Deluxe Edition Box-Set – 180g Light Green 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook & Poster.

Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook.

All editions feature the stunning artwork of Roger Dean and Freya Dean, with blu-ray editions containing a bonus disc of instrumentals, and Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit stereo mixes (by Curtis Schwartz). The album is also available as a Gatefold 180g 2LP + LP-booklet, Special Edition CD Digipak & as Digital Album.

Available exclusively in the band’s official store: Aurora 2xLP on grape-colored vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve. Includes a numbered certificate of authenticity. Strictly limited to 500 copies worldwide. Visit the store now to shop this release, additional variants, and exclusive merchandise.

Listen

Spotify

Lyrics

Click on the song title to view the lyrics.

In a whisper psalms of light ever carry clear
Elevate to virtue wise
Calming vital signs
Oh Harbinger bring balance to the tides coursing through my life

Brahma exhalation wields creation aeons old
All return with inhalation to ecstatic fold
Oh Harbinger that all may come to know

Everything we see from inside
Every way to be free inside ourselves
Everything I seek is inside
Everything I long for inside myself
Despite myself

Aurora
Astral light aureole
Aurora
Celestial
Aurora
Aurora
Your flames are ablaze burning through the haze in my mind’s eye sky

How our fragile edges fray
How our colors dull and blur
Like paper dolls in a cut out world

8 billion lives
Round we go
Bound by a karmic ebb and flow
We reap and sow by the stones we throw

From where we’ve come
To where we’ll go

Through the gate of the great divide
Escape to the other side

We sail highs
Brave lows
The human drama comes and goes
Lifetimes ebb and lifetimes flow

May all come to know

What history to tell
Stories of the glories
In shame we fell
As heroes we arose

Along the border of the great divide
Through the portal to the other side

Everything to be free inside
Everything I long for inside myself
Inside myself

Aurora
Astral light aureole
Aurora
Celestial
Aurora
Incorporeal
Aurora
Your flames are ablaze burning through
the maze in my mind

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison/Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocals, electric rhythm guitar and organ
Steve Howe: Steinberger electric 12-string, Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-175D, Variax sitar guitar, Gibson Les Paul Jnr, Autoharp, additional keyboards
Geoff Downes: synth and chorus organ
Billy Sherwood: bass and vocals
Jay Schellen: drums

Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Martinka: Conductor

TURNAROUND SITUATION

Turnaround situation lately
Turnaround, turnaround
Turnaround situation, 180
Turnaround, turnaround

Dark night at the wheel
Angel flight or devil fear
On this twisty track
Want to explore
Need to turn back

Every cell of being scheming
Later learn
One more crash and burn

No more trusting treasure maps
Wanderlusting dead end paths
Let all disappear in rearview mirrors
Trip and glide the high skyway home
Redemption road

No more bridges need burn
Cross them all to return
With heart and high skyway home
Redemption road
In headlights home
Redemption road

It’s been a turnaround situation lately
Turnaround, turnaround
Turnaround situation, 180
Turnaround, turnaround
Turn and run to save your life

Impulse pushes me on
Unknown bound or higher ground
Dark night at the wheel
Wrong or right
Wield or yield

Every cell of my being is a soldier in an army for change
Now turn and run to save your life

No more trusting treasure maps
Wanderlusting dead end paths
Let all disappear in rearview mirrors
Trip and glide the high skyway home
Redemption road

No more bridges need burn
Cross them all to return
With heart and high skyway home
Redemption road
In headlights home
Redemption road

Turnaround situation lately
Turnaround, turnaround
Turnaround situation, 180
Turnaround, turnaround

Out across the plaines
Atop the mountain range
A primal voice that speaks so clear to every heart sincere
Guiding every conscience home, the cosmic mighty Aum
To a full loop back to life
Back to light!

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocals, piano and organ, acoustic rhythm guitar
Steve Howe: harmony vocal, Gibson Les Paul Jnr, Williams Pedal Steel, Gibson Chet Atkins nylon, Gibson ES-175D
Geoff Downes: synth
Billy Sherwood: bass and vocals
Jay Schellen: drums

LOVE LIES DREAMING

She’s a jewel of heaven beaming
Like a room without a ceiling
To somewhere I could follow
Love lies dreaming
To where I’ll follow
Tuned to her moon
This midnight rose in bloom

At first it feels like falling
when really you’re only flying through a dream

Dreamcatcher pass the magic through the love dreamer’s weaving
Dreamcatcher pass the magic through the love dreamer’s weaving
Through the love dreamer’s weaving
Where love lies dreaming
Where love lies… dreaming

Through forest, through fields
(Give chase, give chase)
Toward mountains, up hills
(Keep pace, keep pace)
At the summit there’s a wishing well
(In tune with her moon)
Where she’ll cast her spell
(In tune with the moon)

Keeper of the deeper meaning
Intuition guided feeling
To somewhere I could follow
Love lies dreaming
To where I’ll follow
Tuned to her moon
This midnight rose in bloom

At first it feels like falling…

I’m soaring through a dream
Where love lies dreaming
I’m falling, |’m falling…

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison/Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocals, piano and synth
Steve Howe: Gibson Chet Atkins nylon, Steinberger GM4T electric
Geoff Downes: verse piano
Billy Sherwood: bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

COUNTERMOVEMENT

i TARO
(Instrumental)

ii ANYTIME SOON
It’s a feeling so strong
It can’t be wrong
From it | take my cues
It could be jazz or the blues

Not any time soon
Will my feet hit the ground
But elsewhere they’ll be
Time to share

Since I made up my mind
Not to keep up with these maddening times

We’re just travelers
In a misunderstood land
Across misunderstood lines
Obeying misunderstood signs

Step to forgive
Dream a dream
Replenish the seemingly
Endless light of life

Since | made up my mind
Not to keep up with these maddening times
Any time soon

Could the tide be turning
Fulfilling what you’re yearning
Ungoverned by the moments

At one with everything
It’s a feeling so strong
It can’t be wrong
From it | take my cues
It could be jazz or the blues

Since | made up my mind
Not to keep up with these
maddening times
Any time soon

iii BLINK OF AN EYE
Artificial lives, made to socialize
Moments crystallize
Tactile compromise
Lost and hypnotized
New World synthesized

In the age of AI, there goes you and I

Wandering through a new dimension
ever changing in the blink of an eye
Where only truth is what we’re leaving behind

I don’t want to be a false identity, simulation imitation me
I don’t want to be hung up on imagery, a self-inflated, overrated identity

Wandering through a new dimension ever changing in the blink of an eye
Where only truth is what we leave in a blink of an eye

Subject personified
Lost and hypnotized
Real world compromised

Wasted days race by in a blink of AI
I don’t want to be a false identity, simulation imitation me
I don’t need a part of me imaginary, in these days of false identity

iv FREEDOM’S EDGE
(Instrumental)

TARO

Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Steve Howe: guitars and steel
Geoff Downes: organ
Billy Sherwood: bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

ANYTIME SOON

Geoff Downes/Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: duo vocal
Steve Howe: duo vocal, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin
Geoff Downes: piano and synth
Billy Sherwood: bass guitars and additional electric guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

BLINK OF AN EYE

Jon Davison/Billy Sherwood/Jay Shcellen

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: duo vocal
Steve Howe: Fender Steel and Telecaster, Steinberger electric 12 string, Martin MC38 SH and 0018SH acoustics, Variax sitar guitar, Gibson F4 mandolin, Gibson Tennessean, Portuguese 12 string, Gibson ES-175D, harmonica
Geoff Downes: Mellotron and piano
Billy Sherwood: duo vocal, bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

FREEDOM’S EDGE

Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Steve Howe: steel, electric and acoustic guitar
Geoff Downes: string synths
Billy Sherwood – bass guitar
Jay Schellen – drums

ARIADNE

Hoist the black sails
Onward to Crete
All for to challenge a mad king’s tyranny
Yearly 14 of your offspring sacrificed to the beast
Enter its labyrinth
Confront and defeat

Destined for this moment in time
Light my path, oh gods
Wield strength through my sword
Though fierce wolves chase and pitfalls surround me
Thy blessing, my promise to pierce the black heart
Pierce the black heart

A hero’s story from another age
Will we ever know
Will we ever know
A lover’s story from another age

Ariadne, Ariadne
At first glance her love yearns
Ariadne
Will you ever return from out of the maze

She’s afraid you won’t live to see another day with Ariadne
By her grace in your hand, ball of thread
Tie one end to the door as you go
Unravel the line

(Maze Sequence)

Fake walls surround you
Trapped in your own space
Pure imagination
Can’t tell the real from the unreal

Looking for the moments that come into view
Keep reaching for her stars
They’re all waiting just for you

A hero’s story from another age
A lover’s story from another page

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison/Geoff Downes/Billy Sherwood

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocal
Steve Howe: electric ‘Leslie’ and
acoustic Gibson ES-175D – double wah, Martin MC38 SH
Geoff Downes: piano and synth
Billy Sherwood vocal, bass guitar and additional electric guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

Czech National Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Vladimir Martinka

ALL HANDS ON DECK

Let every sailor on board know
There’s a fire down below

The raging sea is so cruel
Spinning us in a whirlpool

All hands on deck

All hands on deck, board the lifeboats
All hands on deck, to save your neck
All hands on deck, or you’ll perish
All hands on deck, it’s a shipwreck!

WRITTEN BY

Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: duo vocal
Steve Howe: duo vocal, Fender Telecaster and Steel, Variax sitar guitar, Gibsons ES175D, Martin J12 65M 12 string acoustic
Geoff Downes: organ
Billy Sherwood: bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

OUTSIDE THE BOX

i LIGHT

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocal
Steve Howe: vocal and 6 & 12 string acoustic guitar
Billy Sherwood: vocal

ii The Box

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocal
Steve Howe: Martin MC28 + 000-C, Gibson Les Paul Jnr
Geoff Downes: lead synth
Billy Sherwood: vocals and bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

You know you gotta talk less
Try to hear more
Set the stage
In clearer ways we can engage

I know in truth I win
I win if I give in
Compromise
Empathize to the story in your eyes

Emotional intelligence
It leads us to our own personal excellence
Not defined by circumstance
No longer blind with arrogance
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence

I don’t need to be right
No more will I fight
If it means that much to you, we’ll see it through

There are no haunting ghosts in the feedback you give
With energy empower me, by your honesty

Emotional intelligence
The conscience in your head, proof and the evidence
Don’t let panic take the wheel
Designate just how you feel
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence

Oh, will | ever learn

The source of all true confidence
The course toward a noble stance
Emotional intelligence
Not defined by ignorance
It may be our only chance
Our one last chance…

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocal and acoustic guitar, piano and organ
Steve Howe: Fender Steel, Steinberger GM4T
Geoff Downes: organ
Billy Sherwood: bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

JAMBUSTIN'

Don’t poison the well
Don’t trust a snake
Don’t poke the bear
Don’t touch the flame
Don’t bite the hand from where you feed
Don’t mistake your wants for needs
Don’t be the face of human greed

Don’t give in to trolls
Don’t sell your soul
Don’t covet fame
Don’t shout your name
Don’t fear the dark
Don’t swim with sharks
Don’t forget to make your own mark
And do not shelve your future self

Some view the world from upside down, blind to the signs
Feeding the fat vultures of big business, the cultures of excess,
heeding to the needs of greed

Why you always jambustin’ me, creeping into my lane
Never take fault when it’s easier to blame
You’re jambustin’ me
You keep blocking my lane, rushin’ and a-fussin’

Never feel regret when you blame for it
No, you never feel regret when you blame for it

Quit jambustin’ me!

Don’t hoard the boat
Don’t jump a claim
Don’t fix the vote
Don’t cheat the game
Don’t kill the whale, she’s not for sale!
Don’t take the road of no return
Don’t rig the dice
Don’t skate thin ice

You view the world from upside down
You’re inside out
Writing the rules to suit your own needs
You roar quite a sound
Devastation bound

Why you always jambustin’ me, pushing into my lane
Never take fault when it’s easier to blame
You’re jambustin’ me
You keep blocking my lane, rushin’ ‘round and fussin’
You don’t have to feel regret when you blame for it
You don’t ever feel regret when you blame for it

Quit jambustin’ me!

WRITTEN BY

Jon Davison/Steve Howe

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: vocal
Steve Howe: Fender Stratocaster, Martin MC38 SH acoustic, Fender Steel, additional synth, Washboard
Geoff Downes: synths and piano
Billy Sherwood: bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums

WATCHING THE RIVER ROLL

Taking in the moments, one by one
Reflecting all the memories
As they become the painting of our life and times
In a constant state of change

Rolling on the currents, nothing looks the same
The leaves upon the calming streams
Showing us the way
Etched into the heart and soul
In a constant state of change

Walking along the waters edge
Reflections in the waves again
Watching the river roll
Always leading to the sea
The current moving so gently

Watching the river roll

Be ready for the journey
And notice along the ride
All the faces and the places
They go sailing on by

The painting of our life and times
Illuminating new sunrise
Showing us the way

Walking along the waters edge
Reflections in the waves again
Watching the river roll
Always leading to the sea
The current moving so gently
Watching the river roll

Walking along the waters edge
Reflections in the waves again
Watching the river roll

Always leading to the sea
The current moving so gently
Watching the river roll

Walking along the waters edge
Reflections in the waves again
Watching the river roll
Always leading to the sea
The current moving so gently
Watching the river roll

WRITTEN BY

Billy Sherwood

PERFORMED BY

Jon Davison: duo vocal
Steve Howe: Portugese 12-string, Gibson ES-175D ‘Leslie’, mandolin
Geoff Downes: synth
Billy Sherwood: duo vocal and bass guitar
Jay Schellen: drums