Music News - asta rangu – plasticine (EP)
11 May 2017 - 0 Comments
Distinct and stirring, asta rangu's debut EP plasticine is a sonic trip into the pop undergrowth, where swirls of jarring guitars interweave with vibrant, hook-laden wordplay.
asta rangu is the noise pop/rock project of Dunedin (NZ) based Richard Ley-Hamilton (Males, Space Bats, Attack!). Choosing to shy away from past fascinations with airy power pop and garage rock immediacy, Ley-Hamilton opts instead for the sprawling chaos of Sonic Youth, infused with the gloom of slowcore pioneers Codeine.
Recorded in late 2016 by Tex Houston (The Clean, The 3Ds, Dimmer) - partly in the dusty basement of First Church's Burns Hall, and partly in a suburban kitchen - plasticine is an exploration of life in stasis, reflecting on (both sonically and lyrically) notions of progress, recovery, and the often suffocating nature of our geography.
The release opens with first single skip on trak one; a dense and desperate look at stagnation, “we're nigh on improvement, sip it back, skip on trak one”, and showcases a stereotypically propulsive performance from the project's drummer Josh Nicholls, who harnesses the churn of guitars with great ease, calling to mind the likes of fellow kiwis Trust Punksand Brooklyn avant rock outfit Grooms.
Evident throughout the EP, particularly on the brooding post-punk of melancholics and the eponymous second single, is a desire for catharsis, as searching interludes give rise to crescendos and stark resolution, which ebb away almost instantly into the recurrently sombre mood.
Mood can be viewed as the essence of plasticine, with a strong focus on textures and tone, attempting to create an atmosphere sincerely reflective of the songs' ideas and environment. This is achieved through extensive use of heavily effected guitars and keyboards - notably on EP closer thin air, which utilizes a subverted and unrecognizable vibraphone to emulate the spiral into a maniacal state of mind.
Dynamic, resonant, and abrasive, asta rangu’s plasticine is a snapshot of the site where pop clarity takes a last gasp for breath, an exploration of the caverns created by noise and melody combined.
Bandcamp:
https://astarangu.bandcamp.com/
asta rangu on trace / untrace records:
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