After fifty years and a whirlwind of music evolution, as we look back, there’s no doubt the 1970s heralded an undeniable and lasting influence on music. Modern artists like Harry Styles, Bruno Mars and St. Vincent have tried on the retro revival through their album aesthetics, music videos and style. But, when fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling novel think of that era’s enticing music scene – the glamour, the drugs, the sex, the sound – they think only of one band in particular: Daisy Jones & The Six.
The Internet really wants you to know about Daisy Jones & The Six. The obsession with this fictional rock band has spawned from an intoxicating combination – the obvious drama and chemistry between its two lead singers, people’s obsession with the 1970s Los Angeles music scene, and the band’s honest, vulnerable music.
Everybody is longing to hear the imagined debut album from this iconic American group. Now, we finally have Aurora, released digitally on March 3rd and on vinyl alongside the story’s Prime Video series premiere on the same day.
In the novel, Daisy Jones & The Six has an iconic, raw rock and roll sound that catapulted them into fame. This is thanks, primarily, to original frontman, Billy Dune (played by Sam Claflin), and the hypnotic star power of lead female vocalist Daisy Jones (Riley Keough). It was no small task, then, for the album’s producer Blake Mills to capture this magic and translate it into a real-life album for fans around the world.
Luckily, he had the help of collaborators Marcus Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers, and Jackson Browne to craft the 24 original songs for the show. Perhaps more impressive, though, is the commitment of Claflin and Keough, along with the rest of the cast, to mastering the instruments of their characters and hit the recording booth for the show’s soundtrack.
The result is a record that time capsules the seventies – precisely capturing the nostalgia, heartbreak and yearning. Aurora is gritty with moments of smooth soul and folk-rock, big riffs, and hard drums. Each track builds layer upon layer towards a catchy stuck-in-your-head kind of chorus. Hear the signature guitar raunch and, from the opening chords, you’ll instantly be transported back to groupies wearing boots and denim mini skirts, bumming cigarettes and stomping their feet inside iconic rock and roll venues.
Aurora itself has 11 songs, including “Regret Me”, a seething diss track chronicling the end of a doomed-to-fail relationship: “You regret me and I’ll regret you / You couldn’t handle your liquor / And you can’t seem to handle the truth.” In the novel, Daisy wrote the song aimed at Billy, but the real-life version feels like it could be a red-hot break up anthem for all ex-lovers.
It marks the lead song released from Aurora, and is followed by reimaginations of singles from the book like “Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)” and “Aurora”, plus new tracks “Let Me Down Easy” and “The River”. As a whole, the record is a stunning, timeless capsule of an era gone by and really captures the band’s infectious dynamics. Musicians from Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Elton John, David Bowie and more contributed to the tracklist, making this record a must-listen for rock and roll old-schoolers and newcomers alike.
Peep the full tracklist below:
01 “Aurora”
02 “Let Me Down Easy”
03 “Kill You to Try”
04 “Two Against Three”
05 “Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)”
06 “Regret Me”
07 “You Were Gone”
08 “More Fun to Miss”
09 “Please”
10 “The River”
11 “No Words “
If you’re an avid follower of Daisy Jones & The Six, or simply a lover of 1970s music, you won’t want to miss seeing this band hit the stage on-screen.
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Daisy Jones & The Six is the fictitious band at the heart of a new Prime Video Series based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Aurora is the real-life album inspired by songs in the book, with the digital album and vinyl record released the same day as the show’s premiere, March 3.
Watch the trailer for Daisy Jones & The Six here.
