Tom Rowlands and Aurora Debut as Tomora with ‘Come Closer’

A workday routine has a way of sharpening the appetite for something outside it. For Tom Rowlands, one half of the Chemical Brothers, and the Norwegian singer Aurora, the winter of 2024 became an opening to act on a creative conversation that had been running quietly for years. The result is “Come Closer,” a new single released under the name Tomora.

The connection starts at Glastonbury 2016. Watching a broadcast of Aurora’s set, Rowlands was caught by the singer’s presence and precision. He later asked her to add vocals to “The Universe Sent Me,” a track on the Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. She said yes. The gesture was returned when Rowlands contributed production and writing to two tracks on Aurora’s 2024 album What Happened to the Heart?, threading a spare, electronic pulse into her work.

Rather than let that be the end of it, both artists stepped back from their main projects and into a small, intentional collaboration. “Come Closer” carries the mark of two people who have already learned how the other builds a song. It does not feel like a side project in search of a reason. The track stands as an extension of the mutual curiosity that began almost a decade ago, now fully its own thing.