A rhythmic explosion occurred when the five musicians met at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Martin, Rio and Anders had played together since the teenage years, when they met Toby and Jonas at the Academy. Through the years the five boys remained a mystery to the other students of the academy, because of their musical explorations, that according to Martin sounds like a ”spaceship on LSD”. After hundreds of hours spent rehearsing and recording, ASTRONAUT found their sound, that is best described a mix of ‘70s pop extravaganza and outer space-noir.
The album is produced by Claudius Mittendorfer (Arctic Monkeys, Johnny Marr, Interpol) in his studios in New York and London. There has been a lot of travel back and forth, but the result leaves no doubt, that it was worth the trouble.
”We sent some demos to Claudius,” explains band member Martin. “About a week later he wrote us back: ”Sounds cool, send me something, when you’re ready”. We knew it was kind of a long shot for a new band like us, to reach out to a Grammy winning producer, so we were thrilled he even got back to us. Two years later we sent him ”No Place for Lovers” and, shortly after, he invited us to his studio in New York.”
“While we were there, we wrote the song ”New York” and we soon got the feeling, that we would like to do an album. We recorded some stuff at Lydhavnen in Aarhus, when we got back home plus a lot of other weird places. Finally we went to London, where Claudius had moved in the meantime, and finished the album with him.”
“It really has been a journey for all of us, making this album. When it is your first album, you really want to find a sound, your own musical universe. You work until the sun rises. Sometimes you even forget that the songs actually are going to be released, because you are so deeply buried in buttons, keys and wires. At some point you take a step backwards and it is all finished.” – Martin.
ASTRONAUT originates from the Greek words àstron and nautes, which means star-sailor. This seemed like the perfect name for the newly formed band, which in spite of their Aarhusian humility, has got a flamboyant and extravagant radiation, impossible to ignore.
Links
https://soundcloud.com/astronaut-love
https://www.facebook.com/AstronautLove
https://www.instagram.com/astronautband
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAstronautBand
https://open.spotify.com/artist/04ijppppmXDPgXkrJnRwOe
