A Different Kind Of Human – Step 2

Aurora

Released on 7/06/2019 by Decca (UMO)
Main artists: Aurora
Genre: Pop

Available in

24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

Following 2018's Step 1: Infections of a Different Kind by less than a year, Step 2: A Different Kind of Human finds Norwegian singer/fantasist Aurora Aksnes still investigating humanity through a wide-angle lens. Ecological as well as social themes permeate the record, as does her impulse to reach out to the alienated. These ideas are all represented, either literally or symbolically, on "Dance on the Moon." It stars the distinctively pixie-voiced AURORA as an angel. After opening with spare piano, shimmering background atmosphere, and the singer's dreams for a better future ("I hope love will come to us again"), it evolves into a spacy, soaring dance-pop with tight, layered vocal harmonies and a scat-like countermelody. Like much of the record, it's lush, warm, and welcoming, despite the presence of icy timbres, including frequent vocal processing. This is also true of the encouraging, more reflective "Daydreamer" ("I know I'm just a girl/but can I change lives?....I think I can"). AURORA's albums have been both empathic and fanciful from the beginning, but here, via a rousing melody on shimmering, percussive choruses, she issues a call to action: "We become nighttime dreamers, street walkers, small talkers/When we should be daydreamers, and moon walkers, and dream talkers." A few of the album's darker entries are also urgent; the austere "The Seed" warns "You cannot eat money, oh no," and the heavily stylized "Apple Tree" and "Hunger" incorporate hip-hop and Eastern music influences on cautionary, if rhythmically animated tracks. A Different Kind of Human is most compelling when AURORA's vocal performances are allowed room to breathe, as on the captivating title song. While processed vocal harmonies are among the track's otherworldly sounds, the main vocal line is largely exposed and undistorted, a juxtaposition that becomes more profound alongside lyrics like "We have come here for you/And we're coming in peace....This world you live in is not a place for someone like you/Come on let us take you home." It's an album that sticks, both for its theatrical melodies and uncommon benevolence.

© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

More info

A Different Kind Of Human – Step 2

Aurora

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From 12,49€/month

The River

00:03:37

Aurora, Producer, MainArtist - Robin Schmidt, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Mark Ralph, Producer, Mixer, Drums, Additional Producer, Synthesizer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Magnus Skylstad, Producer, Drums, Recording Engineer, Synth Bass, Synthesizer Programming, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Kristian Fanavoll Tvedt, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Aurora Aksnes, Percussion, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist, Synth Pads - Tom AD Fuller, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ross Fortune, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Odd Martin, Producer, Co-Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Odd Martin Bergjord Skålnes, ComposerLyricist