Aurora (Daisy Jones & the Six album)

Aurora
Studio album / soundtrack album by Daisy Jones & The Six
Released	March 1, 2023
Recorded	2022–2023
Studio	Sound City Studios, Los Angeles
Genre	Pop rock-and-roll jazz punk rock classical rock
Length	44:28
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Blake Mills Tony Berg Chris Weisman Jackson Browne Marcus Mumford Phoebe Bridgers
Singles from Aurora
"Regret Me" Released: January 25, 2023 "Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)" Released: February 15, 2023

Aurora is the studio album released on March 1, 2023 by Atlantic Records to promote the Amazon Prime Video streaming television miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six based on Taylor Jenkins Reid's 2019 novel of the same name. The 11-track album headlined by the fictional titular band featured songs with lead vocals performed by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, and the songs are composed, performed and produced by Blake Mills with additional music production by Tony Berg and co-production by Chris Weisman, Jackson Browne, Marcus Mumford, and Phoebe Bridgers.

As per the plot, it was the fictional album in the original novel, and also loosely based on Fleetwood Mac's eleventh studio album Rumours (1977). It also served their lead characters an outlet for the bottled up rage and sexual tension showcased through the novel.

Much of the songs performed by the actors during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when they rehearsed on singing the lines at their homes, to authenticate the band. All the songs were recorded and mixed at the Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. The album received generally positive reviews for the musical quality and the essence to the fictional band as well as the music of the 1970s.

Background

Taylor Jenkins Reid who was the showrunner of the series, recruited Blake Mills to produce the album, along with fellow record producer Phoebe Bridgers and singer-songwriter Chris Weisman. She said "I’m not a musician. I hear something in my head, but it’s not anything that anyone could make into a song. So the idea that people are going to create this album is incredibly exciting to me. I was meeting with one of the guys at Amazon, and we were talking about the music, and he was saying he was very daunted by the task of having to create the song ‘Aurora'. He was like, ‘You have made it out to be the greatest album of the 1970s!’ And now he has to go figure out a way to make it. I’m just glad it’s not my problem." According to Blake Mills, who was interviewed by Jonathan Bernstein of Rolling Stone in June 2020, "there's an opportunity to subvert and create a guitar personality that could have been present in the Seventies, and wasn't [...] People just loved guitar at that point. So I’m trying to find an appreciation for the instrument and try to bend it to my will a little bit."

Release history

The album was announced on January 25, 2023 with the track list also being revealed. It was planned to be released on March 3, 2023 coinciding with the series. But the album released two days earlier than scheduled, whereas the physical form was distributed through vinyl formats by Ellemar Records (the fictional record label on the original novel) on March 2. The songs were packed in a two-sided 180-gram disc, consists of multicolored variants such as orange, blue translucent, yellow translucent and teal. The latter was released as a special edition from the consignment of Barnes & Noble retailers.

Singles

The album was led by the first single "Regret Me" released on the same day as the album preview on January 25, 2023. The album was performed by Keough and Claflin along with Nicki Bluhm and James Petralli performing the background vocals. The second track "Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)" was released on February 15, 2023. Two versions of the song had been released – a single version that runs for four-hours and thirty-minutes long, and a five-and-a-half-minute long version was also unveiled.

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Blake Mills.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)/Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Aurora"	Blake Mills, Chris Weisman, Cass McCombs and Matt Sweeney	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin	03:25
2.	"Let Me Down Easy"	Z Berg, Ali Tamposi, James Valentine and Blake Mills	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin Background vocals: Z Berg	03:23
3.	"Kill You to Try"	Blake Mills, Barbara Gruska and Ethan Gruska	Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, James Petralli and Nicki Bluhm	05:12
4.	"Two Against Three"	Blake Mills	Riley Keough	03:51
5.	"Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)"	Blake Mills, Jason Boesel, Stephony Smith, Jonathan Rice and Marcus Mumford	Sam Claflin Background vocals: Blake Mills and Madison Cunningham	05:32
6.	"Regret Me"	Blake Mills and Chris Weisman	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin Background vocals: Nicki Bluhm and James Petralli	03:16
7.	"You Were Gone"	Blake Mills and Chris Weisman	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin Background vocals: James Petralli and Z Berg	04:18
8.	"More Fun to Miss"	Blake Mills and Matt Sweeney	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin	02:53
9.	"Please"	Blake Mills and Chris Wiesman	Sam Claflin Background vocals: James Petralli and Nicki Bluhm	03:24
10.	"The River"	Blake Mills, Z Berg, Joe Keefe and Kayslee Collins	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin Background vocals: Blake Mills and Z Berg	04:54
11.	"No Words"	Blake Mills	Riley Keough and Sam Claflin Background vocals: James Petralli and Nicki Bluhm	04:16
Total length:				44:28

Bonus version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)/Artist(s)	Length
12.	"Look At Us Now (Honeycomb) – Single verison"	Blake Mills, Jason Boesel, Stephony Smith, Jonathan Rice and Marcus Mumford	Sam Claflin	04:30
Total length:				48:58

Reception

Writing for Pitchfork, Pete Tosiello scored the album 6.6 out of 10 and wrote "Aurora is the soft-rock holy grail, an achievement that transforms American music and rends its creators in the process. The series is burdened by the same strictures as folk musicals Begin Again and Juliet, Naked, not to mention low-prestige cable dramas Vinyl and Dave: In dramatizing the creative process and the difficulty of genius, the work becomes secondary. Logistically, a narrative hinging on transcendent music is undone when the songs are just pretty good. The album struggles to apprehend Fleetwood Mac’s audacity, conflating a ‘70s rock pinnacle with easy-listening ballads. Aurora is bold only as far as tribute-band supergroups go." Tilly Pearce of Den of Geek summarised "for an album based on a TV show, Aurora has no right to be this dang good – full of earworm tracks that will remain in your head for ages."

Vicky Greer in his review for The Line of Best Fit gave 7/10 and wrote "Purists might be jarred by the fact that the series’ version of Aurora bears little resemblance to the book, but don’t let that put you off – this album captures all the magic and intensity created by Taylor Jenkins Reid." Cate Pasterchick of Beyond The Stage also rated the same and summarised "While the album could never outdo its non-fictional equivalents, Aurora serves its purpose of emulating the greats. Aurora is nostalgic, but it’s not the heart and soul of 70s music. That kind of magnetism can only be found in the original era. With that being said, Daisy Jones & The Six’s one and only album beautifully immortalizes the beloved book." Will Hodgkinson of The Times reviewed "For a Seventies band who never existed, this is pretty authentic". Marcy Donelson of AllMusic reviewed: "In the end, while Aurora plays out more like a cast album than unearthed period vinyl, it does hover on the spectrum, and the actor/musicians come to play while songs suggest the intended period Los Angeles music scene, if they rarely stand strong enough on their own to create their own legend."

A review from Off The Record summarised "Whilst Aurora can by no means stand shoulder to shoulder with Rumours, something truly magical was achieved in Aurora – an evocation of real nostalgia for 1970s rock and roll, and live and authentic songwriting and experimentation. Above all, the record is a love letter to the era and music itself." Gissane Sophia of Marvelous Geek Media wrote "Aurora by Daisy Jones and The Six is a messy, heartbreaking, chaotically breathtaking album that beautifully understands the perils of love, life, and second chances. It’s a captivating array of warmth, rage, and gentle reminders of what matters—the pieces we don’t want to see but the ones that exist in so many of us. It’s the kind of album that paints the kind of picture no one wants to see but the one we can’t stop looking at when it’s in front of us." Samantha Matney of East Tennessean wrote "Although Aurora might not sound exactly like the songs that were played on the radio in the 70s, the album is still a fun listen, especially if you are following along with the television series and know the album’s backstory."

Album credits

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.

• Blake Mills – music production, mixing
• Tony Berg – additional music production
• Chris Weisman – additional music production
• Jackson Browne – additional music production
• Marcus Mumford – additional music production
• Phoebe Bridgers – additional music production
• Scott Neustadter – liner notes
• Taylor Jenkins Reid – liner notes
• Will Maclellan – additional recording
• Joseph Lorge – recording, mixing
• Greg Koller – mastering
• Ashley Strumwasser – executive producer
• Brad Mendelsohn – executive producer
• Frankie Pine – executive producer
• Lauren Neustadter – executive producer
• Will Graham – executive producer
• Brandon Davis – executive producer
• Joseph Khoury – executive producer
• Kevin Weaver – executive producer
• Pete Ganbarg – executive producer