Yes, a new album is released: “Let’s carry on the spirit of the band”
Steve Howe’s Yes are unstoppable. The lineup which now includes Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen, has announced its twenty-fourth studio album. The album, entitled “Aurora“, and will be released on June 12, 2026. At the same time as the announcement, Yes shared the first preview of the new recording project releasing the title track as a single. The song is accompanied by an animated video created by Matt Hutchings:
About the “Aurora” album, Steve Howe stated in a press release:
“Making this record was joyous, a chance to play and explore and give everything to the music. It’s always been about collaboration: someone can write a song, but until everyone puts their own spin on it it’s not really a Yes song. We’re not trying to echo the past; we’re taking the spirit of Yes forward and turning it into something new.”
As stated in a press release, Yes began to outline the first ideas of what would later become “Aurora” in an informal and exploratory waywithout a pre-established concept but starting from a series of musical fragments destined to take shape over time. Among these first sketches there was already a song entitled “Aurora”, a name that immediately established itself for its evocative power, linked to images of light, birth and vastness, elements in tune with the band’s imagination. “The title immediately struck Steve Howe and stimulated the visual inspiration of artist Roger Dean, setting the conceptual tone of the project,” said Jon Davison.
According to what is reported in the note, work on “Aurora” started shortly after the conclusion of the “Classic Tales of Yes” tour in 2024. The idea of a new album developed rapidly and, once concluded, “Aurora” presents itself as a work with multiple nuances in which each track has a distinct identity, between references to the classic Yes sound and openings towards new territories.
Here is the tracklist and cover of “Aurora”:
1. Aurora – 07:27
2. Turnaround Situation – 05:50
3. Love Lies Dreaming – 06:24
4. Countermovement – 1.48pm
5. Ariadne – 06:18
6. All Hands on Deck – 03:04
7. Outside the Box – 04:20
8. Emotional Intelligence – 03:30
9. Jambustin’ (Bonus Track) – 04:24
10. Watching the River Roll (Bonus Track) – 04:42
