“Silence”
The Astral Planes quietly entered the scene in January with the release of their first album, “Ocean of Light,” a well-rounded take of post-rock and related underground categories. The album overflows with ideas, which is acceptable from a band of old friends experimenting with guitars, synth and imagination. The Astral Planes chose many pathways (see: the psych-rock grooves in “Stay Alive” or the ever-so-melancholy fuzz-ballad “Amina”) but the best is on the way out. ”Silence” caps the 10-track debut with an airy acoustic tune. The accompanying words look inward, to “clear off all your pathways” and reach the centering conclusion. —Lara Kinne - LEO Weekly

The Astral Planes "Ocean Of Light" (theastralplanes.bandcamp.com)

Beautiful mixture of experimental sounds and pop melodies. Although their shoegaze and post rock influences are apparent these songs have their own flair and vibe to them pushing familiar spaced out sounds in new directions. The Astral Planes aren't afraid to delve into the world of "hairy rock N roll guitar" either. They can get as fuzzed out and nasty as the best of them but I think what impresses me the most about this record are the uniqueness of the vocals. Were many wall of sound type bands prefer a more buried vocal approach stand out tracks like "Diana","Balder" and "Branches" have a vocal style more in the vein of The Rentals or Pavement. One more reason to love Louisville Kentucky. Looking forward to more. - Custom Made Music

O trio The Astral Planes lançou no início de 2015 de forma independente o belíssimo Ocean of Light.

Um mix de Chapterhouse com Red House Painters, um verdadeiro discaço este Ocean of Light, embalado por muralhas de guitarras mas não necessariamente barulhentas, na verdade elas soam mais hipnóticas e cadenciadas suportadas pelos beats e outros barulhos transcendentais que evocam a massa sonora dos sonhadores.

Um dos discos mais rodados neste início de ano aqui no TBTCI.

***** Interview with The Astral Planes *****



Q. When did The Astral Planes started, tell us about the history…
All: We’ve been playing music together ever since High School. We’ve all had our own bands and projects in which we learned how this whole music thing really works. When we all came together in late 2013, the transition was pretty seamless, and it didn’t take long for us to find our groove. After that, we just spent all of 2014, writing and rewriting and just really learning how we work together. It’s still a work in progress, but so far, the results are exciting.

Q: Who are your influences?
Eliot: There’s many influences working under the surface, but the most prevalent ones, I think, are the shoegaze bands of the 90’s, the classic ones that started it all. I think our music has a tinge of progressive rock influence as well. We all love the genre, so it would make perfect sense for it to show in our music a little. Diana, with its extended outro, and Amina, with its song structure are the most proggy elements I hear.

Jonah: Our influences really are quite eclectic. I think the most obvious ones are nineties shoegaze, modern noise rock, the early sixties garage rock bands and the new wave of psychedelic rock we’re seeing right now such as Tame Impala, The Black Angels, and Pond. We love all kinds of music, and I think that shows in how hard our music is to pin down and I love that. I’m a reverb junkie myself. I love music that is raw, visceral, and powerful and I think we convey that. I also love a good wall of sound.

Jake: I owe a lot of my influences to post-rock and post-punk, and am very fond of the 80’s in general. I love a good synthesizer, and I think it adds a very different element in our sound.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…

Jonah: Loveless - MBV, Kid A - Radiohead, Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective, Here and Nowhere Else - Cloud Nothings, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

Jake: Funeral - Arcade Fire, OK Computer - Radiohead, Movement - New Order, The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place - Explosions in the Sky, 2112 - Rush

Eliot: City - Strapping Young Lad, A Natural Disaster - Anathema, Either/Or - Elliott Smith, Ghosts of the Great Highway - Sun Kil Moon, Hospice - The Antlers

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Eliot: After you get past the initial jitters, there’s a kind of confidence that washes over you that’s really invigorating. At that point, you just play, live in the moment and let the music happen. It’s a bit like rehearsals except there’s people watching you. That’s probably the most difficult thing about it. But being on stage is really an incredible experience of its own.

Q. How do you describe The Astral Planes sounds? Eliot: Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Psychedelic Rock that is somehow floaty and grounded at the same time. Jonah: Beautiful Noise. My favorite thing in music is when it can be loud and grating and intense but beautiful and poppy and accessible at the same time. Jake: Loud.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
All: We had been practicing together for a long time and we ended up going to a cabin out away from town and setting up to record there for a few days straight. We recorded the entire album live straight into a mixer and then into a computer. Only minimal vocal overdubs were used. We wanted the album to sound as close to our live show as possible. We worked around 9-10 hour days for three days putting this album together, and the spontaneity of it all really adds a certain charm to the album. It also gave us another song: the intro, Ocean of Light, was almost completely improvised, and we all liked the song enough to include it on the album.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Jake: Perturbator: Electronic music styled after 80’s films, it’s pretty great. Eliot: The Bilinda Butchers: Incredible dream pop, their album Heaven is one of the best ones released last year. Also, if you’re into old school death metal, Sepiroth came out with an album recently, Uninvolved, that’d be right up your alley. Jonah: Deafheaven: Shoegaze + Black Metal. Enough said. Ought: new wavey post-punk, lots of Talking Heads influence. Definitely a band to look out for. Also second The Bilinda Butchers. They’re transcendent.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
All: Taylor Swift, New Order, Red House Painters, Radiohead, Cloud Nothings

Q: What´s the plans for future....
Eliot: Right now, we’ve been working on the live set and trying to get into that world more, but I imagine before the year’s out we’ll start putting our songs together and start talking about another record. One step at a time for now, though.

Q: Any parting words?
All: Thank you so much for the interview! We want to give a big thanks to everyone who has downloaded or listened to our record so far. Love it or hate it, we appreciate you listening. Thank you.
*
*
*
Thanks

https://theastralplanes.bandcamp.com/
https://theastralplanes.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theastralplanesmusic - The Blog that Celebrates Itself