Billy Corgan returns with a well-crafted piano ballad, acting as the lead single to Ogilala, his first solo effort since 2005’s TheFutureEmbrace.

Legendary producer Rick Rubin takes a minimalist approach while Corgan takes an unprecedented step back from the production role, giving full reign to Rubin. Corgan explained this in a statement given the same day as the song’s release,

I put myself in Rick’s hands to take the music wherever he’d like. Normally I would have done more, and tinkered more on production, but rather Rick put the onus on me to deliver at a molecular level via live takes. The rest was simply a reaction.

As far as the title, an aeronaut is a pilot or traveler in some sort of airship (usually a hot-air balloon), not to be confused with an astronaut who travels outside the atmosphere. While the lyrics make no mention of the title (not unusual for Corgan), lyrics such as “Can a boy float through time and space” certainly allude to it.