My Majestic Star

Australian Chris Mason has divided time on recent musical projects as one half of Glassacre and with his solo excursions as My Majestic Star. Whilst the former released the rather brilliant Engineers-meets-Avrocar ‘Slow Attack’ EP, Mason’s solo venture is also well worth anyone’s time and comes particularly recommended for those who enjoy the ambient end of post-rock.

‘On Afternoons’ casts its dark spell via ten minutes of wintry drone and clattering effects. It’s good but it’s by no means the best track here. ’Defects In Sunsets’ is less dramatic but more deeply satisfying as its layers of rich organ, flute, slow drum beats and subtle guitar form a more beautiful noise. ‘And Having A Reason Why’ sticks to a shoegazing template with only its metronomic drum loops attempting to break out of an early 1990’s time warp whilst ‘Fill Empty Spaces’ drifts in and out on a downbeat yet gripping melody. The journey ends with the blissful chimes of ‘Forget Idaho’.

I have occasionally been bored with the sheer amount of post-rock acts who seem to be treading the well-worn path of quiet/loud dynamics. ‘Too Late The Day’ is an album that restores my faith in the genre thanks to its sense of adventure and original melodic structures. Yet another success for the Hidden Shoal Recordings label. - http://leonardslair.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/review-my-majestic-star-too-late-the-day/

The bio claims that Chris Mason, on My Majestic Star’s second album, Too Late, The Day, is avoiding the ‘deliberatley wide-open vistas and apocalyptic atmospheres’ of most post-rock styled music, in favour of ‘intimacy and engagement’. He’s succeeded to some degree but, when he fails, it doesn’t really matter - this type of open wide vista is something I’m very happy to listen to.

Most impressive is when Mason really stretches out - on every single instrument. The epic ‘On Afternoons’ has the kind of instrumental interplay one would normally expect from a tight group, not from overdubs all played by a single person. There’s two separate drum tracks, one left and one right, to underpin the distorted guitar angelsong and slow moving melodicism. It’s 10 minutes are over too soon. ‘Defects In Sunsets’ introduces flute alongside the layers of both gentle and fully amped guitars and some tentative singing. The voice is much stronger in lead single ‘And Having A Reason Why’, echoing Chapterhouse or Revolver from the early 90s. The beatless ‘Meaning Less’ adds different shades to the mix, particularly with the addition of Miriam Braun’s cello - the only instrument on the album not played by Mason. The aforementioned intimacy is evident particularly on album closer ‘Forget Idaho’, with what sounds like just two guitars, before a final piano coda, a lighter reworking of the opening title track, closes the album.

There’s quite a resurgence of guitar based, atmospheric droning noise/beauty across the globe at the moment. My Majestic Star has produced one of the stronger examples I’ve heard so far across a consistent, layered and considered album.

Adrian Elmer - http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=2361

Most post-rock you come across nowadays are filled with a certain dramatic gloom that so well lends itself to heavily layered, massive attacks of guitars. Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, A Place to Bury Strangers, all exude an attitude of negative energy to some extent. Not that their songs are depressing or pessimistic, but it’s characteristically difficult to pull off a “happy” post-rock track.

While perhaps My Majestic Star don’t achieve “happy,” their songs in Too Late, The Day are certainly more sunny and optimistic than some of their instrumental brethren. The follow-up to 2006’s Ideas Are the Answer, Too Late uses the theme of a quickly passing day well. The title track, which leads off the album, is short-lived and dramatic like most days—if albeit in a slowly developing sort of way. Unlike most days however, “Too Late, The Day” is enjoyably atmospheric and worthy of being repeated.

The most-used musical theme however, is that found within “On Afternoons.” Cheerful instrumentals hold back any darkly-layered guitars, spiraling into enjoyable sonic chaos before giving way to a daydreamy Sonic Youth guitar riff. The track, as well as others such as “Defects in Sunsets” and “Forget Idaho,” is filled with distracted attentions, perhaps trying to capture an afternoon spent on your back, watching clouds dance across the sky.

My Majestic Star exudes warmth in its instrumentation where others deliver only frigidity. In fact, the biggest drawback of Too Late, The Day is that My Majestic Star relaxes you into forgetting that you’re listening to music. Concentration is difficult on this lazy summer afternoon of an album. My Majestic Star craft a graceful collection of delicate melodies that move at a natural pace—seemingly no faster than the pace of a flower growing, or the sun moving across the sky. A wonderful find for all fans of post-rock, shoegaze, or beautiful music. - http://racketscan.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-my-majestic-stars-too-late-day.html

Too Late, The Day is the Australian ambient/shoegazing/post-rock band My Majestic Star's second album. It opens with the light dreamy title track which floats directly into "On afternoons", the album's without doubt best piece. A ten minute long droning paradise, or joyful hell. It delivers you into a disturbing non-calm calmness. Aching you to listen, and almost punishing you for doing so when taking you into this beautiful peaceful landscape where no rest is to be found, but oh so many broken promises...

It is not like; and then it all went downwards from there. It just doesn't get any better.

Unlike My Majestic Star's previous work this album features Chris Mason's voice on both the single "and having a reason why", "Fill Empty spaces" and "Open to Feel". (Btw, Chris Mason is My Majestic Star.) And yet his voice becomes the music, those tracks still get somewhat more regular. And probably needless to say when labelling this as shoegazing post-rock, more obviously introvert. Where the pure instrumental tracks has this edge, this kind of almost creepy ability to get under your skin.

And even though nothing on this album can claim to be including. It touches you, and will not leave you emotionally un-disturbed, in every positive meaning of disturbing. - http://www.lunakafe.com/moon147/au147b.php

So you say you like My Bloody Valentine, but all that feedback and gobbilty-gook tends to rub your head the wrong way? Headaches result from Ride and it pains you because "Vapour Trail" is just so darn good? Boy oh boy do I have the band for you then. Meet My Majestic Star (mmm, can you smell the alliteration?), the smooth, creamy version of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and any other shoegaze band you can think up. Ethereal soothing sounds can be found aplenty here, but without the mind-numbing ax-splitting feedback found in Loveless, and the 11-minute "Attachments" can compete with "When You Sleep" and come out holding it’s own. The lovely melodies and sweeping crescendos found in their latest work Fining will have even the hardest shoegaze rocker swimming in a pool of shimmery landscape-filled emerald tunes. "The Letter F" and "Fining" are wonderfully ambient tracks that also achieve a bit of mainstream pop-ability, which lets the listener get gobbled up by My Majestic Star faster then most shoegazers. Fining is a relaxing and exciting release all at once. Short and punchy, My Majestic Star prove to be a wonderful remedy to overworked shoegaze ears—a remedy that (unlike that stuff your mom gave you when you were little) tastes better with every dosage. - http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/albums/index.php?album_id=5230

Tim's Top Ten Best of 2006
Crème brûlée's of 006

1. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (Warp)
Wow. Wow. In a year spent impatiently waiting for new albums from two of my favourite bands, Circulatory System and Animal Collective, along comes Grizzly Bear, embodying all the things I love about CS and AC, yet mustering their own kind of ethereal, rustic magic. You can live inside Yellow House, and I've spent countless car rides and headphone sessions exploring its resonant, haunting spaces. Easily the most beautifully recorded album of the year, it's thankfully blessed with achingly moving songs too. "Central and Remote" and "Colorado" are two of the most sublime pieces of music I've heard all year. Utterly enchanting.

2. Mahogany - Connectivity (Darla)
Andrew Prinz and co. keep the stunning production values and layered arrangements of their previous dreampop efforts, but stir in the kind of fist-in-the-air, have-a-group-hug songs that will have you grinning from ear to ear. The first half emulates the buzz of walking around a city on a sunny day, people streaming along the pavements in all their colourful imperfection; the second half is more like the introspective train ride home, headphones on, remembering how much you used to love The Cure...

3. Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Reprise)
First my obsession with the excellent Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster, then came Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, an entertaining and insightful overview of the genre. I've never really explored metal, so when I became excited about the prospect of buying some albums, I did some research and decided that Mastodon would be my way in. Blood Mountain embodies everything that is great about metal, and has some genuinely thrilling moments, especially for someone approaching this music for the first time. The musicianship is stunning, and the more I listen, the more absorbed I become by the concept, a journey involving a crystal skull, a colony of birchmen, and a sleeping giant...

4. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (Bella Union)
The first half of this album is just gorgeous, but The Trials of Van Occupanther is a frustratingly uneven record, with too many of those kooky Bamnan and Slivercork keyboard sounds in the second half. However, when you've got two of the finest songs of the year in "Roscoe" and "Head Home", you can't help but love Midlake and their meticulously trimmed beards.

5. The Necks - Chemist (Fish of Milk)
Until Chemist, the idea of The Necks appealed to me more than actually listening to the albums. Their repetitive and gradually transforming music is intriguing in principle, and witnessing the trio perform live is something I can recommend to anyone, but the hour-long pieces found on disc have never really set my world alight. With Chemist there are instead three 20-minute pieces - and guitars! The awesome "Abilerra" is worth the price of admission alone.

6. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon (XL)
Like the bastard offspring of Pavement, The Pixies and The Strokes, Tapes 'n Tapes unleashed a cracking debut in The Loon, 40 minutes of concise, catchy guitar pop with sharp edges and oodles of hooks. A great record to blast in the car.

7. Comets on Fire - Avatar (Sub Pop)
Bluesy, boozy, and woozy, Avatar is a blistering collection of fuzzy rock songs slathered with guitar solos, and less of the freaky echoplex that made Blue Cathedral such a headfuck. Basically, it rocks.

8. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time (Sub Pop)
Much like Arcade Fire's Funeral, Band of Horses' Everything All The Time is great, but nowhere near as good as it appears on the first few listens. Thanfully there are enough wonderfully anthemic songs - particularly "First Song" and "Funeral" - to make the album worth playing repeatedly.

9. My Majestic Star - Ideas Are The Answer (Hidden Shoal Recordings)
In a year that's been woefully bereft of decent instrumental guitar music, including the disappointing Mr Beast, it's Western Australia's Chris Mason who shines the brightest, with a collection of beautifully melodic and lovingly constructed pieces that reward repeat listens.

10. Dilatazione - Too Emotional For Maths (Hidden Shoal Recordings)
And then, also on the brilliant Hidden Shoal label, is Dilatazione, an Italian quartet who weave the kind of crisp, propulsive math-rock that seems to have gone out of fashion, but has rarely been done this well. - http://www.lunakafe.com/moon126/smyt126.php