Ears Wide Open: Vast Asteroid

Kevin Bronson on November 20th, 2017

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L.A. trio Vast Asteroid hit the planet last week with a self-titled album boasting a constellation of sonic influences, all star-dated in 1990s: shoegaze, Britpop and Failure-style space-rock. Best enjoyed at merciless volume, the album is the work of singer and multi-instrumentalist (and journalist/author) James Poulos and drummer Mark Reback (both formerly of Black Hi-Lighter) and bassist Mimi Star, who just finished playing in My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult’s 30th anniversary tour and who previously played with the Warlocks and Mere Mortals, among others.

If Vast Asteroid’s eight feedback-spiked songs sound a little desert-baked, there’s reason: It was recorded in January (during a torrential storm, the band points out) at Rancho de la Luna studios in Joshua Tree, abetted by producer/engineer Andy Freeman and engineer Johnnie Burik. The trio’s host for the week-long session was Dave Catching of Eagles of Death Metal, and he joins in on the closing track, the aptly titled “Spacegaze,” recorded straight to tape during a jam session. It clocks in at almost 18 minutes and ranks itself as an interstellar experience, or something that appears, menacing but beautiful, on the desert horizon at daybreak.

||| Stream: “Sick”