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Let’s face it, God Is An Astronaut is the kind of name that a band has to earn, rather than just have. You’d feel short changed if you went to see them and they sounded like The Killers, is what I’m trying to say. Fortunately, they sound like no-one else on their level, possibly like no-one else in the world. The inspired idea of tying down space rock and post rock’s more meandering tendencies in favour of strict, rigorous, motoric rhythms is paying them back dividends and, like some of the greatest music ever written, it all comes back to a pair of brothers.
Fortunately enough, these ones don’t seem to hate each other. God Is An Astronaut was formed by twin brothers Niels and Torsten Kinsella, who play the guitar/keyboards, and bass/guitars respectively. Both of them spent the 90’s playing in an assortment of rock bands before heading into remixing by the turn of the century. The Kinsella brothers were contracted to write the music for an album that an assortment of different singers would actually sing on, however, by 2002 the idea fell through.
At first, the duo were thoroughly annoyed, however, then they realized that they had an album’s worth of instrumental music that was essentially theirs. They set about rejigging the music and by 2002, they had written, recorded and released “The End Of The Beginning”, the first God Is An Astronaut record proper. A year later they recruited Noel Healy to drum for their very first live shows and their first videos for “From Dust To The Beyond” and their first record’s title track started to get played on MTV UK.
Since then, the band have gone from strength to strength. They are sensations in their native Ireland, playing packed out festival sets for nearly over a decade now. They’ve released a further six albums and have developed not only an outstanding band to perform live with, but a truly psychedelic visual show taking in lights and video matched to each specific song they play created by the band members. They’re a truly unique band that we could stand to see a lot more of. Highly recommended.
There is only one word capable of describing post-rock legends God Is An Astronaut’s live performance: memorizing.
Whether you are a fan or not, one cannot help but be completely entranced by God Is An Astronaut live. From the haunting opening piano of opening song “Remaining Light” to the very last note, God Is An Astronaut is able to keep the audience completely captivated and engaged until the bitter end. Uniquely, the band does not achieve this emotional connection with their audience through a high energy performance, but rather through the music itself.
The musicians are stagnant on stage for the most part, save for a few moments where head banging is absolutely necessary, giving their undivided attention to not only playing every note as accurately as possible, but to also replicating the atmosphere that is so important to their studio efforts. The band utilizes a projector screen as their back drop and takes great advantage of the venues lighting system to great effect. If the musicians are focused on recreating the atmosphere from the studio efforts, it is the backdrop, the lighting system, and the sheer power of the live performance that not only replicates the atmosphere, but actually improves on it.
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