"It's a funny funny game / You gave a try and you've done well / There's no reason to feel shame..."
With bits of 80's power pop, bits of 90's proggy post rock, extra tasty bits of late aughts dreamy indie rock and more, the effervescent "Beautiful Everything" by French outfit Astral Bakers, seem to have an innate ability to blend genres into their own captivating thing. This track, inconstant movement, with tender, hushed vocal aesthetic, pure guitar dreaminess one second and progressive intricacies the next. There is a jagged sense to the puzzle pieced shapes, a dynamic dance of emotional / musical tensions and resolution. Rushed breathing and deep meditations and so on. The bass and drums kick in wonderful ways, I love the open drumming that really serves the song, and the non-lexical backing vox.
"You've filled a house with regrets / Where you keep telling yourself / It's a beautiful life, it's a beautiful / It's a beautiful everything / It's a beautiful life, it's a beautiful / It's a beautiful everything but what you're looking for..."
LINER NOTES: (bracketed)
[Astral Bakers is the new band featuring Sage aka Ambroise Willaume, formerly of French trio Revolver with multiple releases on Astralwerks from 2008-2011, as well as Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg. All have been professional musicians for over 10 years, working with artists as diverse as Woodkid and Victoires de la Musique (French Grammy) winners, Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Pomme and more.]
[Their debut album The Whole Story is set for a February 9th release via Sage Music. The new single “Beautiful Everything” is Astral Bakers making an upbeat nod to the more accessible side of Sonic Youth, without subtracting the warmth of other influences like Elliott Smith and Big Thief. The song was recorded live in the studio, striking a balance between dreamy and feeling alive.]
Be well, be true, be safe.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.youtube.com/@AstralBakers
https://www.instagram.com/astralbakers/
https://www.tiktok.com/@astralbakers
https://www.facebook.com/AstralBakers
Astral Bakers is the new band featuring Sage aka Ambroise Willaume, formerly of French trio Revolver with multiple releases on Astralwerks from 2008-2011, as well as Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg. All have been professional musicians for over 10 years, working with artists as diverse as Woodkid and Victoires de la Musique (French Grammy) winners, Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Pomme and more.
Sage, Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg all know each other from having worked together on other tours and records. They have all been making a living from music for over 10 years. They have all worked with artists as varied as Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Woodkid, Pomme and Revolver. Each of them have experienced studio arrangements, the tangle of tracks on computers, and meticulous stage performance.
Together as Astral Bakers, they strive for something more: epiphanies and presence, friendship and purity. Their act of birth was a concert at le Consulat. There, they felt the compelling desire to return to their roots together. To stop getting lost in the meanders of demos and production, but to reach the roots. Playing as if they were freeing ourselves.
Following the singles "One More" and "Shelter" from earlier in 2023, today Astral Bakers announce their debut album The Whole Story, set for a February 9th release via Sage Music. Today they share the new single "I Don't Remember," one of the first songs they ever recorded, exuding a delicate warmth and edge that lands somewhere between Elliott Smith, The Breeders and The Zombies.
Check out the new single & video on YouTube.
"I Don't Remember" is the story of a break up: two people that got together when they were very young and evolved in separate ways. Something that was inevitable but could linger forever.
"It is the first video session we shot in the very core of our musical space, the studio where we recorded the whole album. We see only a glimpse of the room as it’s plunged into darkness, lit only by a shower of light. Each of us approaches the light, then disappears. We see discrete elements of our life in the studio in the background, some gear, some food we just ate, the shape of a piano, of a guitar amp. But somehow the mystery of the process of creation remains," the band describes.
In warm, wooded rooms, they composed their first tracks, repeating them over and over again. Without interruption or nets. No demos or re-recording: only listening, circular, between two guitars (Sage and Nicolas) that dialogue with each other, a bass (Theodora) that keeps time, and a padded drum kit (Zoé) that embraces the whole.
On top of this, the voices soar, both casual and concentrated. Sage's voice first, strong in its assumption of being more fragile than ever, and then those of the others around it, composing warm and confident choirs, both accurate and attentive to the imperfections of the moment - these imperfections of which grace is made.
The band has announced their upcoming appearance at Eurosonic in January 2024, along with the a headlining show at La Maroquinerie in Paris on March 7th. Additionally, they have been chosen to be part of the Spotify Radar France program, as well as Spotify Radar Global. Astral Bakers will be featured as one of 10 Radar ambassadors worldwide, including a large billboard in Times Square in mid-December.
Playing together, therefore, to restore life as it passes, fallible and true. And in so doing, to remind us of the obvious, which we forget: music is an art of presence.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.youtube.com/@AstralBakers
https://www.instagram.com/astralbakers/
https://www.tiktok.com/@astralbakers
https://www.facebook.com/AstralBakers
Astral Bakers is the new band featuring Sage aka Ambroise Willaume, formerly of French trio Revolver with multiple releases on Astralwerks from 2008-2011, as well as Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg. All have been professional musicians for over 10 years, working with artists as diverse as Woodkid and Victoires de la Musique (French Grammy) winners, Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Pomme and more.
Sage, Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg all know each other from having worked together on other tours and records. They have all been making a living from music for over 10 years. They have all worked with artists as varied as Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Woodkid, Pomme and Revolver. Each of them have experienced studio arrangements, the tangle of tracks on computers, and meticulous stage performance.
Together as Astral Bakers, they strive for something more: epiphanies and presence, friendship and purity. Their act of birth was a concert at le Consulat. There, they felt the compelling desire to return to their roots together. To stop getting lost in the meanders of demos and production, but to reach the roots. Playing as if they were freeing ourselves.
Following the singles "One More" and "Shelter" from earlier in 2023, today Astral Bakers announce their debut album The Whole Story, set for a February 9th release via Sage Music. Today they share the new single "I Don't Remember," one of the first songs they ever recorded, exuding a delicate warmth and edge that lands somewhere between Elliott Smith, The Breeders and The Zombies.
Check out the new single & video on YouTube.
"I Don't Remember" is the story of a break up: two people that got together when they were very young and evolved in separate ways. Something that was inevitable but could linger forever.
"It is the first video session we shot in the very core of our musical space, the studio where we recorded the whole album. We see only a glimpse of the room as it’s plunged into darkness, lit only by a shower of light. Each of us approaches the light, then disappears. We see discrete elements of our life in the studio in the background, some gear, some food we just ate, the shape of a piano, of a guitar amp. But somehow the mystery of the process of creation remains," the band describes.
In warm, wooded rooms, they composed their first tracks, repeating them over and over again. Without interruption or nets. No demos or re-recording: only listening, circular, between two guitars (Sage and Nicolas) that dialogue with each other, a bass (Theodora) that keeps time, and a padded drum kit (Zoé) that embraces the whole.
On top of this, the voices soar, both casual and concentrated. Sage's voice first, strong in its assumption of being more fragile than ever, and then those of the others around it, composing warm and confident choirs, both accurate and attentive to the imperfections of the moment - these imperfections of which grace is made.
The band has announced their upcoming appearance at Eurosonic in January 2024, along with the a headlining show at La Maroquinerie in Paris on March 7th. Additionally, they have been chosen to be part of the Spotify Radar France program, as well as Spotify Radar Global. Astral Bakers will be featured as one of 10 Radar ambassadors worldwide, including a large billboard in Times Square in mid-December.
Playing together, therefore, to restore life as it passes, fallible and true. And in so doing, to remind us of the obvious, which we forget: music is an art of presence.
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