Valley Stream, NY
The music of Long Island’s Astronauto is a sound as peaceful as it is jarring. Introspective folk realism collides head on with expansive electronic dreamscapes shaped from a mess of wires and raw emotion as brilliant and messy as songwriter, live looping master, and visual artist John T Velsor’s melted crayon masterpieces (often available for sale right from the stage at his shows!) Live, Astronauto is typically a one-man-band – a swirling maelstrom of gentle sound and fury, carefully orchestrated into epic indie rock bliss that’ll satisfy the old school music heads and the too cool kids alike.
On Liminal Spaces, Astronauto the band morphs and melds between solo acoustic exploration and full band space rock extravaganza – even beginning and ending the bulk of the album with contributions from Velsor’s own daughter, Penelope – before a sweet Elvis cover that serves as a sort of closing credits for the record. The massive group effort features additional contributions from John’s Medicine Fish bandmates: Julian Maultsby, James Messina, and Ryan Griffin; Richie Arriaga, Robert Henry Cox II, and production by Ruck Zuck’s Nick Bedo.