post rock
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Hey, look at this. Spanish post rock three piece Astralia return with the follow up to their excellent 2014 album 'Atlas'. In 2015, I saw them play a great show at that year's edition of Dunk! Festival and 'Atlas' has been in my possession (and day-to-day playlist) ever since. So I guess it's no surprise that I was immediately interested when I saw this album coming in. Like I said in my review for Dunk! 2015, "this is proto post-rock from a very high level".
The seven tracks on 'Solstice' contain everything a good post rock album needs. There are vast soundscapes, there is a dreamy atmosphere and quite often the whole thing bursts out in an intense, riff loaded pieces of music. With that in mind, what Astralia does might not be extremely renewing or inventive, but they don't have to. Rule number two in my book says: "if you can't be original, you have to be exceptionally good to stand out".
And that is exactly what Astralia did on this album. These songs elbow themselves a way into several best-of lists, I'm quite sure of that. The competition is harsh but with their impressive instrumental songwriting skills, this trio certainly deserves to accompany the top. If someone ever asks you what post rock is, you might as well make him listen to this album, because it shows the very definition of the genre: long tracks, instrumental, glorious and narrative anthems.
I'm not going into a song-by-song description since it's not needed here. I can't pick a favorite one either, I think all of these songs are absolute post-rock masterpieces. So yeah, there is little else to say. If you are into post rock, and love bands like Explosions In The Sky, PG Lost or Meniscus, you should already own this impressive piece of work. Obviously, this comes highly recommended. I you don't buy it, you're not a post rock fan.
​Serge
The seven tracks on 'Solstice' contain everything a good post rock album needs. There are vast soundscapes, there is a dreamy atmosphere and quite often the whole thing bursts out in an intense, riff loaded pieces of music. With that in mind, what Astralia does might not be extremely renewing or inventive, but they don't have to. Rule number two in my book says: "if you can't be original, you have to be exceptionally good to stand out".
And that is exactly what Astralia did on this album. These songs elbow themselves a way into several best-of lists, I'm quite sure of that. The competition is harsh but with their impressive instrumental songwriting skills, this trio certainly deserves to accompany the top. If someone ever asks you what post rock is, you might as well make him listen to this album, because it shows the very definition of the genre: long tracks, instrumental, glorious and narrative anthems.
I'm not going into a song-by-song description since it's not needed here. I can't pick a favorite one either, I think all of these songs are absolute post-rock masterpieces. So yeah, there is little else to say. If you are into post rock, and love bands like Explosions In The Sky, PG Lost or Meniscus, you should already own this impressive piece of work. Obviously, this comes highly recommended. I you don't buy it, you're not a post rock fan.
​Serge