diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+reactive-banana-automation (0.5.3) upstream; urgency=medium
+
+  * Prepare for monad of no return, by removing redundant return
+    implementation for Automation.
+  * Remove compatability for ghc older than 8.0.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Wed, 26 Feb 2020 11:31:40 -0400
+
 reactive-banana-automation (0.5.2) upstream; urgency=medium
 
   * Support stm-2.5.
diff --git a/Reactive/Banana/Automation.hs b/Reactive/Banana/Automation.hs
--- a/Reactive/Banana/Automation.hs
+++ b/Reactive/Banana/Automation.hs
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@
 
 import Reactive.Banana
 import Reactive.Banana.Frameworks
-import Data.Semigroup as Sem
 import Control.Monad.Fix
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Reader
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Class
@@ -104,24 +103,22 @@
 newtype Automation sensors actuators a = Automation
 	{ unAutomation :: ReaderT (sensors, actuators -> IO ()) MomentIO a }
 
-instance Sem.Semigroup (Automation sensors actuators ()) where
+instance Semigroup (Automation sensors actuators ()) where
 	Automation a <> Automation b = Automation (a >> b)
 
 instance Monoid (Automation sensors actuators ()) where
 	mempty = Automation (return ())
-	mappend = (Sem.<>)
 
 instance Functor (Automation sensors actuators) where
 	fmap f = Automation . fmap f . unAutomation
 
-instance Monad (Automation sensors actuators) where
-	return  = Automation . return
-	m >>= g = Automation $ unAutomation m >>= unAutomation . g
-
 instance Applicative (Automation sensors actuators) where
 	pure = Automation . pure
 	f <*> a = Automation $ unAutomation f <*> unAutomation a
 
+instance Monad (Automation sensors actuators) where
+	m >>= g = Automation $ unAutomation m >>= unAutomation . g
+
 instance MonadFix (Automation sensors actuators) where
 	mfix f = Automation $ mfix (unAutomation . f)
 
@@ -433,7 +430,7 @@
 
 -- | Combining two ranges yields a range between their respective lowest
 -- and highest values.
-instance Ord t => Sem.Semigroup (Range t) where
+instance Ord t => Semigroup (Range t) where
 	Range a1 b1 <> Range a2 b2 = 
 		let vals = [a1, b1, a2, b2]
 		in Range (minimum vals) (maximum vals)
diff --git a/reactive-banana-automation.cabal b/reactive-banana-automation.cabal
--- a/reactive-banana-automation.cabal
+++ b/reactive-banana-automation.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: reactive-banana-automation
-Version: 0.5.2
+Version: 0.5.3
 Cabal-Version: >= 1.8
 License: AGPL-3
 Maintainer: Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 Library
   ghc-Options: -Wall -fno-warn-tabs
   Build-Depends:
-    base (>= 4.6 && < 5.0),
+    base (>= 4.9 && < 5.0),
     reactive-banana (>= 1.1 && < 1.3),
     time (>= 1.6 && < 1.9),
     stm (>= 2.4 && < 2.6),