Astro - Far in The Distance

 

Astro – Far in The Distance – CD/Download – Abhorrent Creation Tapes – 2021

Release link - https://abhorrentcreationtapes.bandcamp.com/album/astro-far-in-the-distance

Band pages - https://astro-hasegawa.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/people/ASTRO-CCCC-Hiroshi-Hasegawa/100045702438105/

          1.    Cluster Amaryllis.

          2.    Rebel Moon and Emotional Resolution.

Astro is a Japanese project that was started in 1993 by Hiroshi Hasegawa of CCCC. Since 2013, Astro has been a duo with Hiroko Hasegawa – I am usure if both artists are related. Releases date back to 1994, starting with Moog Resuscitation on Ant-Zen in 1994. Astro has also released on Phage Tapes, RRR, Trashfuck, Important and Fusty Cunt amongst many labels – this latest release is on French label Abhorrent Creation Tapes.

Astro. 

Cluster Amaryllis starts off with field recordings that drip and echo to build an image of an empty wet space – this creates the canvas which the work can play out onto. The rise of intensity comes through the increase in the water pouring and gradual introduction of glitching sounds that spark off each other until a thicker ambient atmosphere arises. There is an increase in the amount of noise used, these creak, roll and gradually fill up the sound creating a playoff of noises that is backed by continuous, foreboding drones.  The density of the sound increases as the number of noises grows. Things become blurred as chaos gradually sets in, individual noises take turns to take prominence in the picture that is formed. I like how the ambient drones from the start of the work eventually shine through the chaos as a smaller palette of noise shoots across the scene. The work intensifies and begins to die off several times towards the latter part of the track, the final die off allows the drones to cut through and dominate the chaos and lead it towards an end.

Subtle conversations of small noises are the start of Rebel Moon and Emotional Resolution, which allows a longer passage of minimal, quieter noises to fire off each other. The conversational aspect is emphasized by some of the noises sounding like voices or vocal based noise throughout the track. There is a good 5 minutes of this before a measured build up starts, bigger drones and blasting distortion build a sound that has thicker lines of noise going through it than before. Sharper sounds cut across this to build distinct layers. At different points there is a warped feel to Rebel Moon that arcs across the track, this is coupled with a clearer sense of violence that erupts into the picture. Digital blasts emerge as the chaos increases, until it peters out.

The sound on this release is made by overlaying a range of noises in small and big, busy combinations. Astro does this by allowing the work to start or reduce to passages of quieter interaction for things to then get louder and for chaos to erupt which is then controlled and manipulated. I was impressed by the mastery of the sounds made to move things along and ensure that they shift continuously. Far in the Distance is two passages of sonic communication erupting into violence, both fights move differently yet meet similar ends. This is a demonstration of good, layered chaos that is available in digital and physical format from the Abhorrent Creation link above.

Coventry Soul 2021.