Astro Children - Play It As It Lays

UPDATE (19 Jan 2016):
Today, Astro Children released their new EP (https://astrochildrenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/plain-and-fancy-killings)... and though I thought it was perfect before, the re-mixed and mastered versions on the official release are just out of this world. Share this with everyone.




This week, interstellar no-nonsense Dunedin two-piece band Astro Children (Millie Lovelock and Isaac Hickey) released "Play it as it Lays" - the first single from their upcoming second EP Plain and Fancy Killings that follows on from their 2012 EP Lick My Spaceship! and 2013 debut album Proteus. The EP is recorded and produced by Nick Graham (Old Psychaitrists Club) at the iconic Chick's Hotel in Port Chalmers.

And despite elements of sweetness in the first minute of Lovelock's crystal-clear vocal delivery, the song quickly blazes up to become powerful, fierce, and shows no interest in taking fuckboi prisoners.

Stream the song below and purchase the single via their Bandcamp page or on SoundCloud via Muzai Records.



I think a lot of people that know me are aware that Astro Children are unashamedly my favourite band in the world, which might seem at odds with my generally prevailing "chill homie" demeanour given how incredibly loud and explosive their music can get. Dunedin songwriter Louis Smith (Fat Children) is probably the only person who has actually asked me about this though, wondering why I prefer Astro Children to, say, the more poppy Trick Mammoth (N.B. without saying that I necessarily should). At the time my answer was that it was to do with the seamless sonic togetherness of the two musicians throughout live performances. Through their long friendship, Astro Children performances are like a comet orbiting a star, independently powerful but divinely linked by deep forces. That was a few years ago now. Since, the band has gained greater perspective and have written and performed more material; and my opinion now is that Astro Children should be the most important band in the world. I don't believe they're writing and performing the music they are for personal attention or fame or fortune, or just to have gratuitous fun, or just to get people dancing. I think there's a bigger purpose.

Millie is crushingly intelligent, perceptive, and well-read. Isaac is one of the most empathetic people I have ever met. And they both have serious political and societal concerns... and they should... because they're young and their generation is inheriting a world that is fucked up on countless levels. Sycophantic megalomaniacs run most governments and corporations, sociopathic men continue to propagate and benefit from rape culture, the majority of media strives to maintain the hegemony of the status quo, violence, fetishism, and other societal ills are barely in check, and greedy humans and their antiquated methods are collapsing the environment that we all live in. The state of the world looks pretty dire at times. But I think that this all contributes to the dissatisfaction and urgency that I hear in Astro Children's music and perhaps informs their ethos and that of their core group of friends and supporters - because none of them want to surrender the futures of their friends to more of the same. These problems with the world need fixing NOW... and I think Astro Children will be part of the solution.

Of course, there's a chance I'm projecting too much of my own hopes onto this duo. I'm lucky enough to have heard the albeit non-final mix of the next Astro Children EP (actually I've probably listened to it about 20 times) and without a doubt, these two people have what it takes to help change the world. [edit: Through their music and through conversations (tumblr?), I do feel like they are fully aware of all the bullshit out there that needs to change and I think they don't waste and words, lyrics, or time in not exposing some part of all that.]

And of course now I feel utterly compelled to read both "Plain and Fancy Killers" by Hemingway and Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays... after I finish Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire though.