Astra - The Weirding

 

 

Astra’s debut release “The Weirding” is accurately titled because it’s a little different. Astra is new to the world but it’s members have been together for the better part of a decade. The band finally became Astra officially in 2006 and the psychedelic Astra was born.

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate it when bands have an entire track or any segment of track with ambient noise, freaky sounds, background bits or whatever and as it is, that is exactly how “The Weirding” starts out. But then about half way into the first track an instrumental melody picks up then flows nicely into the second song which just so happens to be the title track and a whopping 15:26!  The next track though is a bit of a sleeper (no pun intended considering it’s named Silent Sleep), lots of softly crashing cymbols, woodwind instruments and near whisphering lyrics; having trouble falling asleep, turn on Silent Sleep and you’ll be out in no time.
There are some bands out there who cater to the stoner crowd, laid back, relaxed, eclectic, progressive and spiritual. “The Weirding” is a journey down a magical road that leads to mellow grooving basslines, echoing guitar strums and sinfully soft vocals. This is no better displayed than on Broken Glass, doesn’t get any more mellow than this.

All in all this album is very different, it’s melodic in a psychedelic kind of way while giving you an audible canvas to paint your own picture. So many bands have a very concrete style that allows the listener to only result in one or maybe two different scenarios, but Astra makes it possible so that almost every listener will visualize a different scene after listening giving everyone their own unique trip down “The Weirding”.

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