aaamusic | On 21, May 2011

NEW ALBUM:

THE CHROMIUM FENCE

THE ASTROBOY

THE ASTROBOY is the moniker of Portuguese musician Luís Fernandes. Drone, timbric exploration and contemplative soundscapes built from analog synthesis, digital manipulation and guitars are the elements we can find in his previous work “A derrota da engrenagem” (2007, test tube/lovers and lollypops) and“090309” (2009, Cobra). Within a musical framework echoing the long road between 2001 A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, passing through the light, density and abstraction of Tarkowsk’s Stalker or Solaris, The Astroboy takes us on a sci-fi voyage through memories of an uncertain future, arid and ten­se, wandering through digital pulsars and synthesized depictions of interior landscapes.

Back with a new release (this time on cassette, allied to the digital download format) after A Derrota da Engrenagem (2007) and 090309 (2009), The Chro­mium Fence inaugurates the recently-created artist collective PAD and gives body to a retro-futurist drift for the project, keeping its exploratory nature and synthesizer-based instrumentation, with guitars and digital-manipula­tion calling to mind the adventures of Klaus Schulze, Harmonia or Cluster.

With the direct invocation of the Phillip K. Dick universe – in the album title as well as in the name of some of the tracks – we find ourselves dragged onto an intergalactic dance floor on Coordination Sphere, to the alluring mechanical movement of neon-lit metropolises in “The Voight Score” (a track that appears twice, in the original version as well as a version by :papercutz), or onto the contemplation of the void from the cockpit of any orbital space station in Glow before exploring the alien topography of an unknown planet to the sound of wind-swept Cliffs.

Live Dates:

21st May at Musicbox, Lisbon, Portugal – supporting Actress.

The Astroboy – The Voight Score

Info:
www.facebook.com/iamtheastroboy
www.myspace.com/iamtheastroboy
www.soundcloud.com/theastroboy