I Am Above On The Left [2010] Astro

The band’s third album has grown out of a number of changes and new approaches which Alexey Taroutz (guitar, vox, percussion, bass), Artem Galkin (bass, vox, guitar, percussion) and Pavel Eremeev (drums, devices, feedbacks) wanted to pursue. IAAOTL found themselves in that camp of the artists who applied Edgard Varese’s principles of “organized sound” to rock music, and generalized their experience to the Astro album. “10 untitled songs” are not so much songs as minimalist constructions with an emphasis on timbre and rhythm, or canvases upon which the three splatter some colors (arguably not as bright as on the album artwork) to create quite murky images. These are not monotonous: some passages hover on heavy dissonant abyss, others insert haunting texture exercises and tribal pulses, or flow with the perfect serenity. Some of the tracks may seem at first like underdeveloped sketches, but take them with a bit more concentration and the music turns out memorable even without the structure most ears have come to expect. IAAOTL’s Astro is quite unlike anything that preceded it: captivating and inventive rethinking of math-rock, experimental, chamber and avant-rock. Deconstructionist fans will marvel at this unorthodox experience. (10 tracks - 40 min.)