Lathe of Heaven and the post punk glitter romance of "Aurora" (Official Video)

"Dreaming of the world / That rests beyond these cliffs / The miracle of warmth / I’ll never understand..."

The post punk glitter romance of "Aurora" by Brooklyn based Lathe of Heaven, and the title track of their upcoming album, leans into 80's new wave and 90's post punk together in a forever embrace and done up so authentically that it  feels like a forever song. This kind of artistic revisionism is, of course, nothing new but, in my opinion, is difficult to get right. Sometimes the attempts are titled by a kitsch sensibility or injecting to much heavy guitar power or shoegazing up the vocal mix etc. Lathe of Heaven get it right. I feel like "Aurora" could be found footage of the time they are paying homage to. The wonderful vocals with that kind of 80's drawl that is part aloofness and part heartbroken is here as is the overall subtle musical sound, tube drawn and enough space around the instrumentation to make it breathe. I couldn't help but thinking fondly of artists like Blancmange, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Flock of Seagulls. 

On the single, the band shares: "A song loosely inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke short story called “If I Forget Thee, O Earth..." 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, I took a more personal and romantic approach, exploring similar themes of loss, love, and devotion at the end of the world."

LINER NOTES (bracketed):

[Lathe of Heaven's stylish hybrid of post-punk and new wave gleams like a colorful still from some dusty horror movie. Today, the Brooklyn-based band announces its new full-length Aurora, which is out August 29, 2025 via Sacred Bones. The album is rooted in an improvisational process, but the outcome is propulsive, gripping and structured, grappling with heavy themes and incorporating literary influences. Lathe of Heaven has also shared the title-track as a single ahead of Aurora. The song is slyly anthemic, carried by crashing drums and silvery guitars. "Lost in pure devotion / Crossing oceans lying next to you / Lost in pure devotion / Tracing heaven lying next to you," singer Gage Allison belts on a dramatic chorus that is straight out of the '80s. "Aurora" is accompanied by a video directed by Devan Davies, which merges references to arthouse cinema and glitchy effects.]

The album "Aurora" drops August 29th, 2025.

-Robb Donker Curtius

  

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6sU6B7cuctosL0gOhgeBdr

https://latheofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/aurora

https://www.instagram.com/lathe.of.heaven.nyc/#

https://linktr.ee/latheofheaven

Formed in 2021, Brooklyn based Lathe of Heaven delivers a powerful take on Post-Punk and New-Wave, pushing the boundaries of both genres into an untouched realm of sonic abstraction. With melodic riffs, urgent rhythms and Science Fiction themed lyrics, LoH carefully position themselves in the no-mans-land that exists between beauty and dissonance, offering a unique sound as reminiscent of Finnish Post-Punkers Musta Paraati as they are to pop-pioneers A Flock of Seagulls. Though Lathe of Heaven features members of many noteworthy Brooklyn based projects including People’s Temple, Porvenir Oscuro, Pawns, Android, Hustler and more, this roster of past and alternate musical endeavors exposes a diverse range of genre and skill sets which can only be understood as a departure from such influences, exploring a sound entirely of its own. Aurora, their newest album, is set to be released August 29 via Sacred Bones Records. A bold expansion of their sonic and thematic palette, their second full-length record incorporates influences from mid 80s British and Finnish post-punk, combined with subtle nuances from 90s and contemporary underground pop.


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