Named Instrumental Artist of the Year at the 2022 Western Canadian Music Awards, Astrocolor blend elements of jazz, psychedelia, and electronica – resulting in an experimental genre of their own cosmic invention, aptly dubbed “AstroJazz.”
The new album Moonlighting – AstroJazz Vol.1 was Executive Produced and mixed by GRAMMY-winner Steve Christensen, best known as Khruangbin’s longtime producer and studio collaborator. Given Khruangbin’s significant cultural influence amongst modern instrumental-leaning projects, Christensen’s stamp of approval was not only a massive feather in Astrocolor’s cap, but also an opportunity to add his revered touch to the spacious soundscapes the band has been celebrated for.
Moonlighting imagines an exploratory trip into deep space, combining improvised experimentalism with hypnotic repetition that recalls the influence of late 90s electronic acts like Air, St. Germain, and Massive Attack. Engineered by Neil James Cooke-Dallin at Burning Rainbow Studios in Victoria, Canada, the album sprinkles moments of electronic stardust atop a traditional bed of live drums, bass, guitar, saxophone, and upright piano. The result is both meditative and interplanetary.
Astrocolor’s catalogue has over 10 million streams on the major platforms and regular national radio airplay in Canada from flagship CBC shows including Drive and Afterdark. The band’s dynamic live show has brought them to notable festivals including Bass Coast, Burning Man, Shambhala, Rifflandia, Laketown Shakedown, and the Victoria International Jazz Festival.
Moonlighting – AstroJazz Vol.1 makes its lunar landing on March 31, 2023 via Amelia Recordings.
“Ethereal joy…Straddling relaxed jazz, funky electronics, vaguely psychedelic rock
and spatial dub.” –Clash (UK)
“Keening synths, jazz soundscapes and more reverb than is strictly decent.
Beard-strokingly cool.” –UNCUT (UK)
“Astrocolor are totally versed in the finer points of funky and jazzy house,
the live ambient and Vienna school of electrobeats. The kind of moody sounds
that contemporary jazz festivals love to book.” –Vancouver Sun
“Like the dusty record that crackles on an old turntable, [Astrocolor] feels
both classic and glamorous.” –CBC Music
“Astrocolor hone the niche art of melding ’60s lounge music, Balearic beat and
electronica in an alchemy that shouldn’t theoretically gel – yet they pull it off with prowess and panache. Genre fluidity defines their sonic ethos.” –Exclaim