Those final few days of carefree summer just ahead of Labor Day weekend mean different things to different people, and for some, they set up the soundtrack to coming autumn. Lathe of Heaven provide a key entry with new album Aurora, out August 29 on Sacred Bones, and the Brooklyn post-punk and new wave alchemists set a magnetic tone with the incandescent title track, which surfaced yesterday via a cinematic music video directed by Devan Davies.
Lathe of Heaven say “Aurora” is “a song loosely inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke short story called If I Forget Thee, O Earth…,” adding: “In the story a man and his son take a trip from their colony on the moon to a lookout point where Earth (long abandoned due to nuclear war) can be seen rising across the vast gulf of space. Playing with this concept, [we] took a more personal and romantic approach, exploring similar themes of loss, love, and devotion at the end of the world.”
Davies elaborates on the video: “I set out to create a visual that could expand upon the song, and extend beyond it into a cinematic experience for the whole record. The band approached me with a loose concept involving two locations, the handmade headset designed by ESTR, and the band’s love of sci-fi. There was no budget nor time for replicating a Hollywood sci-fi classic, but it had to feel rooted in that discipline. The aesthetics of Blade Runner, THX-1138, and Tarkovsky were mutual inspirations between the band and myself. I specifically latched onto La Jetée (1962) by Chris Marker as guidance in many ways.”
Well, we can’t stop here, might as well let Davies take this home. “The passion and sense of longing I felt upon first listen, carved the path for me,” he says. “I wanted to stay grounded in that emotional core, and not worry about a complicated narrative. My entire approach was based on intimacy/distance, texture and tactility — to feel, not to think. It is all rooted in how our sensory experiences connect to our memories and emotions. It informed the approach of the sci-fi narrative element, where [vocalist] Gage experiences visions under surveillance from the rest of the band — a mix of memory and fabrication. The analog video manipulation by my collaborator Ali Yildiz was essential in visualizing the breakdown between reality and simulation that Gage’s character experiences. The video became not just a visual companion to the song: It is a manifestation of the band itself.”
Embrace the sonic devotion of “Aurora” below.