Ecological as well as social themes permeate the record, as does her impulse to reach out to the alienated. She’ll need it, too: if we’re to rescue the planet, songs won’t be enough. Following 2018s 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. Her soaring vocal style, too, remains indelibly Kate Bush’s, but though some of this recognisably belongs to others who’ve preceded her, Aurora has plenty of character.

On In Bottles, which begins with clattering percussion and a bouncy bassline before culminating with a huge choir, she sings in quasi-English of how “I put my tears in bottles/ In case if I need them later”, while the album’s most immediate track, Animal, captures attention with its key line: “You’re hunting for love, killing for pleasure”.ĭespite admirable intentions, ADKOH occasionally grates, with her oftentimes portentous tribal drums overfamiliar from Game Of Thrones, and her well-documented admiration for Enya adding to the sense this is Clannad’s Robin Of Sherwood soundtrack restyled for the Dolby Atmos generation. The former, particularly, develops into an anthemic call to arms – “Nothing can die while we are here” – and it’s not her only startling rallying cry. She spells this out repeatedly, with a call and response between the initially intimate Daydreamer (“I know I’m just a girl/ But can I change lives?”) and the restless yet idealistic Apple Tree (“Let her save the world/ She is just a girl”). Born near the city of Bergen, AURORA began writing music and lyrics at a young age, releasing her debut single Awakening in 2013, following up with Under.

Aurora a different kind of human