I can be incredibly, maddeningly indecisive. When it comes to choosing among options I want or a pick between two bad options, it’s a totally shitshow. Ironically, I am quite decisive at work (go figure what extensive education/training/paychecks can do). I’m sure that lack of quick-draw decision-making stems from a fear that I’m picking a sub-optimal selection. Boston’s Astronoid even play into the notion of time and needing to make the right choices, and their upcoming masterpiece – Stargod, out November 7th via 3DOT Recordings – even uses that sense of forked paths to great effect. The band’s patented blend of extreme metal, shoegaze, and dream pop is filled with the kind of wisdom I dream of, where new paths are constantly forged and missteps were clearly thrown to the cutting room floor.
Most apropos to my metaphor, the record starts and begins with a choice that vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Brett Boland had for one song and decided to not opt out of either:
“When I was working on ‘Embark’ there were two directions to take the song. I didn’t want to choose so I followed both – ‘Embark’ and ‘Arrival.’ It ended up book-ending the album in a way I thought was really cool and would leave the listener with something different to experience. Especially since they start the exact same way. The lyrics of ‘Embark’ are about how we are moving away from what we have done in the past and how we are now moving towards something new and different. How everything that we have done up to this point has been right and true to our musical selves. Everything in between is chapters in the book of the last couple years. Each song is a commentary about a certain aspect of the situation.”
Those chapters are filled with a lot of turmoil and heartbreak, as the universe decided to test fortitude of the members of Astronoid. They’ve emerged together as tight and strongly as ever, and that’s in large part because of how much they’ve realized embracing everything they love is essential to their success. Who knew the world needed Genesis to write a Van Halen record (note: I did)? Apparently Boland did:
“It wouldn’t be true to ourselves to continue making the same record over and over. Since Air we have tried to expand on what Astronoid actually is. We really wanted to shake things up early, so we weren’t stuck in the blackgaze/post-rock realm. We are fans of all types of music, so when we approach writing we just try to write what we want to hear. We started the writing process in August of 2023. It was a few months after our tour with Saosin. We had a few ideas of what the record was going to be like going into the writing process. We wanted it to be focused and to have the vocals be a bit more present and up front. That’s it.”
“I write the majority of the music with the help of the guys,” he adds. “So when I started everything was good. I was really into new music I’ve never explored before, and I was learning to play an instrument I’ve never spent much time with [more on that below]. When everything started to go bad, I just used it as my outlet. My wife was having a really hard time, and I was taking care of my daughter full-time. I was in full support mode for my family. The music was really the only way I could express my feelings. As time passed, the songs became a time capsule for what was happening. If anything it became unhealthy at one point. We wanted to get the record done by the summer of 2024, but we just couldn’t make it happen. We rushed some things and ended up having to rework/rerecord things, and then it came to the point where I had to talk to the guys and tell them that I just need to stop until we get through this. The other guys were going through their own things at the same time. It was just kind of chaotic, and we all needed space. It really sucked having to pull the plug for a bit. [Once we came back, the record came] together pretty quickly, but that whole year of 2024 was just lost to time.”
From the sounds of the record, it’s clear Astronoid fell back in love with both music and the band collectively during the process of Stargod. I can hear the sheer joy of finding a way to make songs feel as close to a dream-world as possible and then offering up what I call “exclamation point” moments within each song What was it about this record, specifically that helped Boland reclaim his love of creation? The synth, baby!
“Astronoid has always had synthesizers in our music, but they are usually put in after the song is written,” he says. “This record was different. I had become obsessed with Van Halen’s 5150, and that caused a chain reaction that led us to Stargod. I borrowed Dan [Schwartz]’s Take 5 Synthesizer, and that just completely opened the door to a new realm. I never played keyboard before and started writing with it almost exclusively. I love limits. Having a hardware synthesizer with a specific amount of sounds was a great place to start for me. It gave the record a cohesive sound and opened up a whole new way of putting chords and melodies together.”
“In parallel to this I was diving into all this 80’s music that I grew up with but never dove that far into [with Astronoid],” he continues. “Van Halen brought me to listen to more Depeche mode, INXS, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, Genesis, Ultravox, etc. Their songs were so focused and catchy, and I wanted to have that feeling when listening to Astronoid. I wanted to dance; I wanted to have fun, and I wanted it to be us. I had a playlist that I would listen to on repeat and would continuously update with new songs. I listen to so much death metal and 80’s synth pop and all sorts of stuff. I feel like this is the first time I’ve really put all my favorite things in an album. It was awesome and inspiring! I haven’t had this much fun writing since Air.”
What I love most about the album is the fact that it feels like a journey that only reveals itself in completion. Obviously, the echoing duality of the opener and closer makes sense, but “Vicennium” could only work as a penultimate track, and “Third Shot” (ironically, the 4th song) is so neon-coded it should be impossible. The journey is the point, and you find the destination along the way. Thankfully, wherever you find yourself on that journey, Astronoid offer up one hell of a soundtrack.
Stargod is out now from 3DOT Recordings and you can order it here. Follow Astronoid on Facebook and Instagram for future updates.
Photo Credit: James Singleton
