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AURORA Releases New Album “The Gods We Can Touch”: Streaming
Norwegian singer-songwriter AURORA released her third studio album “The Gods We Can Touch” on January 21, 2022 for the first time in three years.
The album comprises 15-track, featuring guest appearance from French singer-songwriter Pomme. Produced by AURORA and Magnus Skylstad.
She recorded the album during a month-long stay at a castle Baroniet Rosendal in Norway. “It's very small and it's surrounded by these huge mountains. It's like the castle is being protected by a Mother Earthly hug,” AURORA told Apple Music. “It's very magical and feels like a sanctuary. It has history.”
She said of the album, “The spiritual door between the human and the gods is a very complicated thing. In the right hands faith can become the most beautiful thing. Nurturing and warm. And in the wrong hands it can become a beacon of war and death. One thing that has always bothered me is the idea that we're born unworthy having to deem ourselves worthy by suppressing the forces within us that make us human.”
She continued, “Not perfect, not flawless, just human. Could we find this Divine power in ourselves, while still being attached and seduced to the wonders of the world. The flesh, the fruit and the wine. I think that is what intrigues me about the Greek gods. The gods of the ancient world. Perfectly imperfect. Almost within our reach. Like gods we can touch.”
AURORA explained track-by-track for the album via Apple Music.
“The Forbidden Fruits of Eden”
“I wanted to offer a space to kind of dive into yourself and touch your own divinity—and that exists somewhere deep within yourself. I wanted it to feel holy, like some kind of ritual, musically.”
“Everything Matters” featuring Pomme
“I don't normally do features. I knew a bit about [Pomme] because she's extremely sweet and very talented. I wanted to include some Frenchness on the opening song as a gift to the castle that gave me a lot of the inspiration to finish this album. I asked her if she could write the ending of my song in French, and she wrote a beautiful story about the flowers we picked in all of your favorite places. It is an ode to Rosendaël.”
“Giving In to the Love”
“I love very big, powerful drums. To me, that's very native. It's something ancient. I love when music touches that place. I actually wrote that song at the last minute. I had already finished the album and mastered it, but then I wanted to have 'Giving In to the Love' on it. So it's actually the demo; I never got the chance to completely mix it. It's very unpolished.”
“Cure for Me”
“'Cure for Me' is about my biggest issue with religion and the way it looks [down] upon the gay and trans community. This is a song for all the people who have been told by authority or by religion or by the conservatives that they aren't worthy of love, or even life. It's the most horrible thing I can ever imagine hearing that you are born so wrong, that you have to be cured. Conversion therapy, sadly, isn't even illegal in Norway. It's an issue we need to talk about.”
“You Keep Me Crawling”
“I wrote 'You Keep Me Crawling' and 'Giving In to the Love' around the same time. I was just humming the chorus melody all day and I decided that it needed to be a song. It came like puke out of my mouth. It's kind of a happy accident of a child.”
“Exist for Love”
“What I like about Aphrodite is the personification of love. I love the idea of love having its own personality and body and being. I wrote it in 2019 when the coronavirus was just a distant thing going on in Wuhan. Then I decided to release it a year before I knew I was going to do the album because I thought the world needed a little love.”
“Heathens”
“The mother in this song, she offers love and room and a home to all the people that aren't welcome elsewhere. That's the spirit of the song. It's very inspired by women, especially how many women have been punished and burned just for being women. It's an ode to women.”
“The Innocent”
“It's the wildest song on the album, I think. I imagine all these people dancing naked around a fireplace. That's very innocent. Our bodies are very pure, beautiful things and it's a shame that we've managed to make it something not pure. It's the sexualization of innocent things that makes the world dangerous.”
“Exhale Inhale”
“I think very carefully about how I place the songs on every album. I knew that after 'The Innocent,' I would want something extremely open, to remind people to breathe again. 'Exhale Inhale' is about breath, to remember to breathe about anxiety for yourself, for the world, for your part in this world.”
“A Temporary High”
“'A Temporary High' is inspired by a woman that is very fascinating. If she was your present, she would be confusing; if she was your past, you wouldn't be able to escape her. If she is your future, you won't be able to keep up with her.”
“A Dangerous Thing”
“I placed 'A Dangerous Thing' after 'A Temporary High' because 'A Temporary High' ends with a guitar. And I wanted to jump into a guitar pattern right after.”
“Artemis”
“I wanted the song to feel slightly dangerous and slightly seductive but overwhelming as well. I think if Artemis was a real woman here on earth, she would be all-consuming and all-knowing and overwhelming, everything and nothing at the same time. I think she is the kind of woman that if she decided that she was thirsty, she could drink all of the water on the whole planet and still not be full, you know?"
“Blood in the Wine”
“The symbolism in it is very inspired by religious terms. I get a lot of inspiration from faith because it's so complex. This song is about the whole complexity in this relationship. I think it's important for me that people find their own meaning in this song, but I would love people to feel strengthened by it.”
“This Could Be a Dream”
“I wrote this very late, so it was completely dark the whole time. I was thinking about people's dark hours, and I wanted to make a song for those who never learn to dance and run because they're just managing to stand up. It takes so many muscles for a human body to even stand up, so I can understand why people can't find the strength for it. It's very hard to be a human, and I'm just saddened by the idea that some people never get to explore their own full potential because they constantly have to simply fight for the right to exist. That just breaks my heart. So I wanted to make a song for them.”
“A Little Place Called the Moon”
“'A Little Place Called the Moon' has been in the back of my head for a long, long time before I decided to finally record it. It's the most spiritual song. I feel very in touch with a lot of ancient and spiritual things. I'm imagining you and me and all of us just standing up and walking towards something great and hopeful and beautiful that lies there, far ahead in our future. And eventually, we're all going to the moon. I just like the idea of all of us going to the moon. We'll get to look down at ourselves from up there and see how small and beautiful and large we are at the same time.”
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