Norwegian singer Aurora (last name Aksnes) debuted with the EP
Running with the Wolves (2015), which contains the electronic ballad Runaway.
All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend (2016), produced by drummer Magnus Skylstad and
Odd Martin Skalnes (former singer in the Alexandria Quartet),
contains generic electronic pop ballads (notably Conqueror) with a hint of
Kate Bush's art-pop.
She mobilized several distinguished songwriters and producers for the
eight-song mini-abum Infections of a Different Kind (Step I) (2018).
The one song that is truly hers is the
piano elegy Infections of a Different Kind.
The other songs are propelled by electronic beats and wrapped in electronic arrangements.
The Enya-esque Gentle Earthquakes is the brainchild of Fiona Bevan (the co-composer of One Direction's Little Things with Ed Sheeran) and multi-instrumentalists Couros Sheibani and Jakwob.
The stately hymn Churchyard is architected by Electric, i.e. the duo of producers Edvard Erfjord and Henrik Michelsen.
The eleven-song album
A Different Kind of Human (Step II) (2019) again includes a humble and intimate elegy that is truly an Aksnes creation,
A Different Kind of Human, and then complex songs composed by a cast
of songwriters and producers.
The music is generally more energetic than on its predecessor, notably the
lively and pulsating The River (penned by Skalnes and Skylstad)
and Animal (by Toby Gad and David Dahlquist and produced by Skylstad and Askjell Solstrand).
It peaks with the borderline anthemic Daydreamer (by Peter Wade) and the
African-tinged Hunger (a Fiona Bevan song produced by Skylstad).
In 2021 she released five EPs:
For Them Metal People ,
For the Humans Who Take Long Walks in the Forest ,
Music for the Fellow Witches Out There ,
Music for the Free Spirits ,
and
Stories.
If the previous albums had the limitation of feeling like a monotonous experience,
The Gods We Can Touch (2022), mostly a collaboration with Skylstad,
was more eclectic, although spreading in directions that were hardly innovative, mostly a compendium of art-pop of the last 30 years.
Hence the facile dance numbers, like the funk-jazzy Cure for Me,
the Arabic invocation You Keep Me Crawling
or the psychedelic thumping disco-music of A Temporary High.
The melodic peak, A Dangerous Thing,
the anthemic Blood in the Wine
and the thundering Giving in to the Love (possibly her best vocal performance) stand out.
The romantic side is represented by the delicate Exhale Inhale.
The folk influences show up in the accordion-driven Artemis and the piano-driven Everything Matters.
The album is blessed with sound design that makes her lyrics feel
both grandiloquent and intimate.
