Brooklyn Post-Punk Lathe of Heaven Discuss Sacred Bones Aurora Release

Transmission 248: Interview with Lathe of Heaven

Lathe of Heaven is an American post-punk band formed in New York. The Brooklyn-based group creates music that draws from mid-80s British and Finnish post-punk, incorporating elements of underground pop, synth-driven new wave, and early art-rock. Their sound combines minimal synth, gothic rock, and post-punk configurations without adhering to specific revivalist frameworks.

Title: Aurora
Artist: Lathe of Heaven
Release Date: 2025-08-29
Genres: Darkwave, Gothic Rock, New Wave, Post-punk
Label: Sacred Bones
Description: Lathe of Heaven interview: Brooklyn post-punk band discusses Aurora album, Arthur C. Clarke inspiration, Sacred Bones release August 29 2025

The band’s work frequently references speculative fiction literature, with several compositions adopting short story formats and citing authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Peter Watts, and Greg Egan. Their name derives from Le Guin’s 1971 novel “The Lathe of Heaven.” The current lineup consists of Gage Allison on vocals, Daniel Rojas on bass, Noel Mateus on guitar, and Stephen Reader on drums. Members have backgrounds in hardcore and DIY punk scenes, with Allison having participated in various projects within the Northeastern U.S. underground music community.

Lathe of Heaven released their debut album “Bound by Naked Skies” through Sacred Bones Records in 2023. Their second full-length, “Aurora,” is scheduled for release on 29 August 2025 via the same label.

Which bands or specific albums started your initial interest in post-punk and darkwave music?

Noel: Like many others who got into post-punk, I listened to punk first, since middle school. In high school I found out about post-punk, and it clicked. It just made sense. I have to thank the internet for this one. Music forums and Soulseek were one’s best friend for developing tastes at an early age. So of course I came across some of the essentials: Gang of Four, The Cure, Wire, The Fall, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and so on.

When did your fascination with science fiction literature start influencing your music, and what drew you toward authors like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler?

Gage: I had read sci-fi here and there since I was in high school, but I think my obsession with it began around 2016/17 when I finally read Neuromancer by William Gibson. It had been on my reading list for years but I had never gotten around to it. When starting Lathe of Heaven I was experiencing a lot of personal life changes and knew I wanted to focus the theme of the band on something I’ve never done before. It felt right to incorporate these interests into the art I was making and made writing lyrics both more fun, challenging, and more accessible to others. Rather than singing about my personal beliefs or struggles in an explicit way, I opted to express them through a lens of fiction which I believe makes our lyrics more interesting, relatable, and a bit more open to interpretation.

Before Lathe of Heaven existed, what were you doing musically?

Noel: Me, Gage, and Stephen had our death rock project Pawns, our first venture into the darker side of punk. We’ve all been in punk bands before and after that as well. Most recently for me is People’s Temple, 80s US hardcore meets Partisans-style UK punk, fast and chaotic. We played a couple of US tours and a Japan tour but unfortunately had to part ways after. Check it out on YouTube. I still love playing fast and that won’t change anytime soon, so keep an ear out for future projects!

What was the NYC scene like when you were starting out? Did you feel like you fit in, or were you carving out your own space?

Noel: I’ve been in New York for 14 years or so, but back then I was still new to the scene, so I mainly hung out with those I knew from before moving, including Gage. We started going to shows and working on projects together, and at the time the scene seemed way less approachable. Gatekeeping was the way of the land and the last thing you wanted to be seen as was a social climber! Over the years things just happened naturally, meeting and becoming great friends with many amazing and talented people in the scene. Recently, after the pandemic, it seems like an even heavier influx of young people have been getting into it, making it seem way less daunting than it was before, which I think is great. I’d rather them get into punk and post-punk stuff than Taylor Swift or whatever.

The album unfolds like short stories rather than following one mood. Was that intentional from the start, or did it emerge as you were writing?

Gage: For me it was less of a plan and more of a prediction. Our music feels to be a bit of a balancing act. We are always looking to develop our sound, and we intentionally wanted to write a few slower, more pop-inspired singles without abandoning our roots in punk. To do this we had to consider each song as its own little world, which ties in well with the overall motifs of the band.

“Semantic satiation” in Oblivion is such a specific concept. How do you find these psychological and philosophical ideas to explore?

Gage: Reading is my biggest source of inspiration. Sci-fi is often overtly philosophical, which is partly what drew me to the genre in the first place. I underline and annotate everything I read and refer back to the books that touch on subjects I am exploring in my writing.

As far as semantic satiation goes, I initially wanted to touch on this subject through a short story. The idea involves a drug that triggers a feedback loop of one’s consciousness when taken in front of a mirror. It’s still in the works, but I hope to finish that and submit it to some monthly short story publishers in the not-too-distant future if I can build up the courage.

“Exodus” references Theseus’ Ship Paradox—what intrigued you about this philosophical concept, and how did it translate musically?

Gage: Identity is always a concept I have struggled with in an abstract way. What makes me – me? Is who I envision myself to be a more accurate representation of my character than what others think? Long story short, I am an over-thinker, and it is these kinds of questions that keep me up at night. The silver lining is that science fiction makes these questions relevant and approachable. In Exodus I narrate the song through the perspective of someone who uploaded their consciousness into a new human body, then raise the question of whether I am still the person I once was.

There’s a short story by Greg Egan called The Extra which touches on this topic perfectly. I highly recommend it.

The title track Aurora draws inspiration from Arthur C. Clarke’s short story about a dystopian future. How did you capture that sense of love and loss through music?

Gage: That’s a tricky question. It’s hard to say exactly what we captured in that song. I did my best to interpret If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth through my own personal lived experience. I hope what came out resonates the same way with others, but ultimately that is up to the listener to decide.

What gear or instruments did you rely on most heavily during the recording of Aurora?

Noel: My trusty Telecaster gives the shimmer to those riffs. And what’s post-punk without delay and chorus? I have specific pedals for those that I’ll always use. The setup is quite simple really. One new piece of equipment I got that I’ve been loving is the Super-Sonic 22 head—it sounds fantastic.

Stephen: I invested in a Roland SPD-SX Pro sampling pad last winter after years of toiling with a smaller, less reliable, and frankly janky module. The old one had all kinds of cross-talk between the pads, sometimes the kit would change up on me in the middle of a song during a live show, there was buzz from the outputs. I was living my life on hard mode with that thing. The Roland has a pretty solid library of tom and snare samples, and so many ways to edit the sounds to get what I was looking for with this band, without needing to bounce a thumb drive back and forth to a laptop. It also had a cool feature that allowed me to record a roll right to the hard drive that I could then trigger live, so that’s what’s happening during Just Beyond the Reach of Light where I don’t have enough hands to play the beat and a tom roll live at the same time.

If you could collaborate with any living sci-fi author or musician, who would it be, and why?

Stephen: Does Hideo Kojima count?

Gage: Yes! Hideo Kojima would be amazing. We were very humbled to find out he likes what we are doing.
My other choice would probably be Greg Egan, but he is notoriously elusive (he doesn’t do interviews or book signings, and supposedly does not have any photos of himself on the internet).

What’s next after Aurora? Are you already thinking about where to take the sound from here?

Stephen: We haven’t discussed this as a band, but your previous question has me thinking how cool it would be to write a song for a movie, TV show, or video game, where the narrative and imagery came from someone else, but we worked on something to fit with that creation. Maybe that can be a new goal for us. Otherwise, what happens next immediately is touring and playing these songs live for people (mostly) for the first time. We’ll see you out there and on the other side.

Photos courtesy of Lathe of Heaven

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others