Astronaut - Times New Romance

  by Chris Jones

published: 15 / 6 / 2003

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Review

Carrying a dynamic tension similar to Slint's 'Spiderland', the opening song on Astronaut's album 'Times New Romance' just seems ready to explode at any moment.The addition of cello, trumpet, and violin, however, takes it to a different place than most slowcore / postrock songs and this place is quite good indeed. Maybe it's being from Spain or maybe it's because I haven't heard an album done in this style that has sounded so good in quite a long time that makes Astronaut's approach seem so unique. In the end, the reason isn't so important, as the feeling produced while listening to this album is what really matters. The song 'Wounded Migratory Birds' opens with a very sombre, beautiful string and guitar part that then adds horns before moving into an almost dreampop mood. The male / female vocals definitely add to this dreamy feel and by the time the guitars kick in you're already completely caught up in the moment. The fact that nearly six minutes have gone by isn't even noticeable. Those dreamy female vocals take centre stage on the following song, 'Empty Rhymes', where they are accompanied by flute and a plucked acoustic guitar giving the song an almost folky quality. This song is so delicate sounding, reminiscent of a band like Ida. This album balances the feelings of tension and gentleness in a very natural sounding way. Nothing seems forced or out of place and the whole album just flows together. The song, 'A Dress in a Box', manages to capture all of the moods of the album. The guitars easily go from big, distorted blasts to cleanly picked lines. The strings and horns weave through the song softening the outbursts and adding depth to the quiet moments. I'm not sure where in Spain this band hails from - I couldn't really find much about them even on the web - but their label Pause Music is located in Almeria which is on the southern coast of Spain, East of Malaga. This area of Spain is described as having a "barren, almost lunar landscape". Further, this area was used by Italian film makers in the 1960's as the setting for their "spaghetti western" movies. The mixture of dreamy and folky, sparse and dense in Astronaut's music seems appropriate knowing just these two things about Almeria. Being able to capture the dynamic power of Slint and the beauty of Ida, on the other hand, is far more surprising.

Track Listing:-

1 Leaving the scene
2 El autoestopista
3 Wounded migratory birds
4 Empty rhymes
5 Buried
6 Midwinter
7 Camille
8 A dress in a box
9 Silent Hill
10 Self-portrait
11 Wrong notes in wrong pockets