Search - Astronautalis :: Pomegranate

Damn

Joni Shprintz | 09/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Everything about a follow up to MIghty Oceans, Astro's last full length, was built up and scary. My friend's and I had been calling Mighty Oceans the "Ok Computer," that will never become a best seller. Our thoughts were that there aren't bad songs just songs that aren't our favorite. With all that praise "Pomegranate" had a lot to live up to.

It did. Astro is still transcending genres but the pretty and clean indie rock sounds have been replaced by the other sound of the spectrum. This time rather then the help of Astro's friend Radical Face (whose album Ghost is in my top ten ever) Astro collaborated with Paper Chase front man John Cocegton /sp?/ (Indie super producer for Modest Mouse, Poly Spree to list a few).

This time around the strings are violent and chilling, the drums pop rather then beat and the piano's straight out of the Paper Chase's b sides (which is a great place to be). Astronautalis himself still manages to gender bend genre's with his delivery alone. He shows off his story telling this time and only on a second notice do you realize he can growl, sing and certainly rap like no one else.



This isn't another introspective angst driven tale instead it's sad gothic tales that transcend time. Somehow Astro can talk about the Opium trade and it sounds more personal then most singer song writers. Between John and Andy the stories are a history lesson and the musical arrangements are ahead of the time resulting in music as vivid as Tim BUrton on top of his game. Maybe even darker and def. more sentimental and raw.

People say Astro may be branching off beck and while they have def similar influences in my opinion he doen'st just blow beck out of the water but "Pomegranate" sounds more influenced by Tom Waits then anyone else and that is a very large claim.

out of 12 songs 9 of them blow me away and that includes one track of silence. The other two tracks are just good and yet somehow that is disappointing. I wont go over each individual song for the sake of my time but let me say that the last song features P.O.S. another one of my favorite artist and this song exceeds my expectations which are already unfairly high.



Buy it Andy deserves your money."

Awesomely Different

Jim Goings | Hillsboro, OR United States | 09/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This genre (is this even a genre?) is new to me. A coworker turned me onto it and I was hooked. Every track is great which is so uncommon these days.



Piano, driving beats, rap, vocal harmonies, experimental, and 100% awesome!"

Excellent Storytelling Through Music

Paracelsus | Portland, OR | 10/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled across the song "The Story of my Life" completely by accident, but after hearing it I was pretty much sold on whatever Astronautalis wanted to sing about. His style is, in my experience, completely unique, and having since gone back and purchased his previous two albums, I have to say I like the bravado and swagger displayed on this one more so than the poetry and introspection on his previous efforts. This whole album is concerned with minor and major episodes in history, and while there is no common thread connecting the songs, they flow together very well musically.



Lyrically, the album is stunning, the only problem being the difficulty in deciphering words in faster bits (such as "Two Years Before the Mast," which is an excellent song nonetheless). Musically, I prefer the songs with a more minor tone and heavy beats. In this vein my favorite tracks are probably "The Wondersmith and his Sons," "Two Years Before the Mast" and "Trouble Hunters," this last one being a rabble-rousing song about a battle in the American Revolution with lots of historical references and allusions that actually sound cool when Astronautalis is singing about them.



If there is one weakness to "Pomegranate," I would say that it is its lessened impact after repeated listening. Just like hearing the same story told over again or reading the same book, you'll know exactly what's coming since the album is heavily dependent on lyrics. It's still good, just not knock-your-socks-off awesome like it is the first time you hear it."