God Is An Astronaut: Rejuvenation And Momentum
The first thing you’ll notice about GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT‘s new album Ghost Tapes #10 is its striking album cover. Three jet planes, suspended in space, corrode and fall apart above the Earth. GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT’s Torsten Kinsella explains. “David Rooney who is a neighbour and a friend of ours illustrated the artwork. When I played him some of the early demos for the new album, it reminded him of a reoccurring dream where planes would fall from the sky and just stay suspended, hovering, never hitting the ground but still disintegrating.”
This uncanny image adroitly captures the tone of Ghost Tapes #10. A work of momentum-driven, intense soundscapes, it’s the Irish post-rock group’s heaviest work to date. Their music has long possessed a melancholic, mysterious quality, so at the dawn of 2021, their aesthetic seems all the more timely. Asked about his feelings on the previous year, Torsten replies. “It’s like something out of the Twilight Zone. While we are all aware an outbreak could happen, we never really thought it would happen on a scale like this.” While he’s reluctant to draw parallels between this and his band’s newfound sense of urgency, the worrying state of affairs that is our current reality seems to weigh heavily on Ghost Tapes #10, with the band’s instrumentation taking on a darker and weightier tone.
Instead, Torsten points to more personal reasons as the motivation behind GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT’s stylistic shift. “Our last album Epitaph was written in memory of our seven-year-old cousin, we were overwhelmed with grief. Ghost Tapes #10 isn’t written about a specific event but is more of a reflection over the last two years. We felt the need to battle on and write material that was more uptempo.” This sense of movement and continuation is palpable. The music of Ghost Tapes #10 is linear, driving and backed by an almost unfathomable sense of momentum, as though the band are seeking to escape the weight of their grief. It makes for a powerful listen, one clearly rooted in deep feeling.
Another factor is the return of guitarist/keyboardist Jamie Dean, following his three years away from the GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT fold. Torsten describes a “rejuvenated energy in the band” and how the “chemistry between us felt right and the performances on the album capture that”. The album was recorded at the group’s own studio in County Wicklow, Ireland, where they “did experience a degree of cabin fever, though this added to the tension of the performances.” Torsten continues, “it also allowed us the extra time to experiment with amps and pedals to essentially reimagine our sound. The album is rawer, vibrant and more intense as a result.”
Torsten talks of the recording process trying to capture something of GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT’s live sound, to the point where each of the instruments on the album are panned to the positions the respective members would be on stage. This adds an important dimension, for a band that are a famously monolithic and uniquely powerful live act. “I think the absence of live shows has made us really appreciate how fortunate we are when touring,” Torsten explains. “We’re rehearsing weekly so that we don’t get rusty. When live shows return, we plan to hit the ground running.”
Of course, right now, we still don’t know when live music will return. “The music industry is truly on its knees,” says Torsten. “It’s obviously been difficult for us; we depend heavily on touring to earn a living. On the positive side, we have been able to focus more on writing, experimenting and recording. Rehearsing some old songs that we haven’t played in a long time. It’s important to turn a negative into a positive but we really do hope to get back to touring at some point in 2021. Most of the dates will most likely take place in 2022 though.”
Whenever GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT do return to the stage it’ll be a day to celebrate. Their show is an audio-visual sensory feast, one that has seen them achieve worldwide success, highlights of which include a 2018 festival show in India playing to 30,000 people. This success can be put down to a range of factors, one of which is the band’s relentless work ethic. They’ve put out ten studio albums in less than twenty years, a remarkably consistent output. Torsten is modest in his response. “It’s a true passion for us, something that I feel defines who we are. We really enjoy writing and playing music, we are very fortunate we can.”
Another reason behind their worldwide success is also down to the instrumental approach of their music. Guitars are used in place of vocal melodies and smart structuring keeps the tracks engaging and focused. “I believe music is universal, there are no language barriers, it can convey emotion where words fail,” says Torsten. Ghost Tapes #10 is another work of emotional clarity from a band who couldn’t write a dull song if they tried, a work of exhilarating urgency primed for these strange days where the world itself seems on a path of out-of-control acceleration. GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT are here to guide us through it, and remind us of the power of band-driven rock music.
Ghost Tapes #10 is out now via Napalm Records.
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