“‘Exceptional’ is what we want to deal in and what excites us both,” The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands told NME about the meeting of minds between himself and Norwegian alt-pop phenomenon Aurora for their new supergroup Tomora. As she put it, they found themselves “back to the roots of why it’s beautiful to make music” and simply having “shit tonnes of fun”.
READ MORE: Tomora tell us about the world of ‘Come Closer’: “The album is about the search for some connection”
After Rowlands was transfixed by Aurora’s Glastonbury 2019 performance, a collaboration was forged when he invited the Bergen star onto Chems’ 2019 album ‘No Geography’ and again later on ‘For That Beautiful Feeling’ before returning the favour by adding his dancefloor Midas touch to some moments on her 2024 LP ‘What Happened To The Heart?‘. But it wasn’t enough. They had some world-building to do.
In times of such division, it’s a lovely feeling to be so warmly welcomed into that world, as the ghostly opener ‘Please’ glides into the hymnal pipe-organ of the title track as Aurora pleads “Come closer to me” before her trademark heaven-shaking howl – clearing the sky of clouds for bangers.
‘A Boy Like You’ is the sound of coming up before a slinky streetwise seduction, later those block-rocking beats truly kick in on the insane urgency of the rave-ready ‘Ring The Alarm’. The party continues from the proggy sci-fi of ‘My Baby’ to the ever-skyward rave-pop banger of ‘Somewhere Else’ – destined to become a summer festival anthem – and the runaway train to the future of ‘I Drink The Light’.
This isn’t just a continuation of the wild ambition shown on past collab ‘The Eve Of Destruction’, the pair have really carved out a landscape of their own. “Open up your mind, let your body see, there’s no one in the world but me,” Aurora sings with her inimitably sensual but mystical sense of romance meeting seamlessly with Rowlands’ globetrotting soundscape on ‘Have you Seen Me Dance Alone’. “Once I was a river with the wisdom of a child,” the Scandi sage offers to his sunset score to “sail away” on the bubbling ‘Wavelengths’, while the waltzing electro-folk of ‘Side By Side’ will also find something for fans of both artists while simultaneously exploring new, fascinating terrain.
As things collapse with total abandon on closer ‘In A Minute’ for that last rager as the sun comes up, you can’t help but wish you were experiencing this in a dance tent at a shameful god-knows-what hour. Just as The Chems’ scope expanded exponentially when they became international festival dons and Aurora’s vision blossomed across the world stage to millions, it feels as if Tomora’s true potential will truly reveal itself on future records after finding their energy as a live act. Still for now, ‘Come Closer’ is a debut worth dancing about: exceptional, beautiful and shit tonnes of fun.
Details
Record label: Fontana/Capitol
Release date: April 17, 2026
The post Tomora – ‘Come Closer’ review: a Chemical Brother and Scandi pop wizardess’ euphoric collision appeared first on NME.
