Picture the scene: it’s the late nineties. You’re a millennial. Going to the cinema with your friends every weekend is actually affordable. Amazingly, there’s always a film worth watching — because this is the golden era of teen movies. Your stupid humour, your angst, your heartaches, your questionable fashion choices — all perfectly represented on screen.
Now imagine the filmmakers have one last movie to soundtrack, but they have to time-travel to 2025 to find the band to do it. Letters to Cleo, Blink-182 and Save Ferris are already taken. Who could possibly capture that mix of chaos, charm and coming-of-age energy?
Enter Aura Bora.
This American four-piece from Hawai’i sound like they’ve stepped straight out of a sun-drenched skate park and into your favourite scene from 10 Things I Hate About You. Led by frontwoman Jhune Liwanag, who formed the band in 2016 after years of photographing and organising gigs but being too scared to perform herself, Aura Bora are the kind of band that make fear look cool. Over time, and with the help of her current bandmates — Joey Green (drums), Ed Panen (guitar/producer) and Ian Schroeder (bass) — Jhune transformed her nerves into something loud, bratty and brilliant.
Their new EP, Welcome to Heck, is exactly what you want from a modern indie-punk band: punchy, honest and gloriously unfiltered. It’s like a burst of fizzy pop and guitar fuzz — sweet on the surface, but with a definite sting.
Recorded in a repurposed hotel studio called The Spaghetti Shack (which somehow feels exactly right for a band like this), the five-track release crackles with raw energy. It’s the sound of self-discovery and self-deprecation meeting head-on — like a therapy session set to power chords.
‘Junimo Hut’ is a deliciously bratty breakup anthem — the musical equivalent of finally throwing your ex’s hoodie in the bin and dancing around your bedroom. It’s cathartic, confident, and has that scrappy lo-fi charm that feels gloriously imperfect. “I finally peeled the mask off,” Jhune has said about the track, and you can hear that emotional unmasking in her vocals — a mix of ache, relief and liberation.
‘Blinders On’ starts with jangly, shimmering guitars before erupting into a big, dramatic riff. By the end, it melts into a slightly psychedelic swirl that feels like the emotional crash after a night of dancing too hard.
‘I Wanna’ is pure pop-punk joy — playful, fast, and packed with that earnest yearning that defines the genre. Jhune’s voice sits somewhere between defiance and daydream, giving the song an irresistible sense of vulnerability beneath the noise.
‘Feelings’ takes that idea even further. It’s messy, heartfelt and gloriously relatable — a burst of overthinking wrapped up in bright guitar fuzz. It’s the kind of track that makes you want to drive too fast with the windows down, shouting the words into the wind.
Throughout Welcome to Heck, Aura Bora strike that perfect balance between fun and frustration, between noise and nuance. It’s music that makes you grin, but also makes your chest ache a little. You can practically smell the warm asphalt, hear the buzz of cheap amps and taste the sugary hit of 90s nostalgia.
If you ever miss the days when teen movies had killer soundtracks — the kind that made you want to form a band, fall in love, and smash a guitar in your parents’ garage — Welcome to Heck is your time machine.
‘Welcome to Heck’ is out now and you can buy it here
Aura Bora Socials- Instagram/Facebook
Review by Hayley Foster da Silva
Keep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook | Bluesky | Instagram | Threads | Mailing List