Two years ago Astral TV released their debut album Chrystal Shores. It was a dip into the electric ether; a foggy little trip filled with buzzing circuits and calming, distant melodies. The duo, which consists of Rasmus Rasmussen(Causa Sui, Aerosol) and Keith Canisius, built an album around the idea of electronic music that takes you deeper. A presence of peace among analog synthesizers and crystalline guitar lines. A work of electronic beauty that works as a portal to somewhere further than space, yet no further away than a thought. Their work hit on a mix of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, but with a much looser feel. The best of TD could can across as almost claustrophobic at times; a dense wall of sonic enlightenment to admire and fear. With Astral TV there’s an airiness to the work. Despite how far out it can sound, there’s always a sense of uplift.
Nearly two years later and Rasmussen and Canisius are back with Travelling The Circuits. The album drops on September 6th on El Paraiso Records and is up for preorder now. You can also check out the first single, the free-floating and gorgeous “Different Dreams”. At over 8 minutes, it’s a deep dive into Komische-style synth. With Astral TVs mix of heady synth structures and swaths of pristine guitar, this track takes you on a journey and opens a door to a cleaner, clearer headspace. It’s an exquisite trip into sonic realms and circuital landscapes, charged by musical creativity and an almost spiritual sense of digging in and healing the head and heart through electronic composition.
Astral TV, to my ears, are paving ways to a kind personal enlightenment with their music. Their songs work in a sense as auditory medicine. Medicinal tones that hit you on a very visceral level. That’s what the best new age and ambient music does; you drop into it and open your brain, allowing some kind of internal healing. With the way things have been going in the last week, I’d say we could all use some internal healing. Or at the very least hit the undo button and start things over again. If “Different Dreams” is any indication, I’d say Travelling The Circuits has those medicinal tones we need to hit the undo button in our brains and turn it around.
Travelling The Circuits drops 9/6/19 on El Paraiso Records. Listen to “Different Dreams” below.
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