Not quite like anything before, Astro Bloc find more new as they plunder the old.

MEMO IN SPURTLES

If proof were ever needed that the Scottish tradition is anything other than static, constantly evolving and never sticking around in any one shape, form or structure, this first release by current wave-makers Astro Bloc delivers that memo in spurtles. Lord knows, we have had infinite varieties over the years, electronic, dub and chamber-jazz being just 3 recent examples. A quartet, they consist of Eryn Rae and Éadaoin Ni Mhaicín on fiddles, Gillie O’Flaherty on guitar and keyboards, with Paul Jennings on drums. Based in Glasgow, they each have impressive individual pedigrees, all multi-banding across the vibrant folk community of that city. Rae and O’Flaherty are each graduates of the city’s Royal Conservatoire, where Jennings also teaches, whereas Ni Mheacín, from the other side of the Irish Sea, has equivalent credentials and experience, with honours and prizes aplenty.

So what is their spin on things? Drum’n’bass? Vapourwave? Post-baroque’n’reel? Actually, none of those, possibly for the best, it actually quite difficult to define, other than it is a very Astro Bloccy sound. That may seem a cop-out, but check out their MO: This debut album is more than just a collection of tracks. It is the beginning of Astro Bloc, a statement of who we are and what we want to bring to the folk scene. Now, for that to sound anything other than overblown, they’ve got to have something of substance.

REFINED AND DEFINED

The album opens with an introductory sheen of synthesised sonic, a multi-layered prolonged note spread across the soundstage. You could call it a drone, but I suspect they’d prefer you didn’t, that not really their bag. Call it an intro, and they do, Intro, akin to the sound of an orchestra as it readies for action. It leads straight into Mesa, with a gently repeated two fiddle saw, and an electric piano cascading out a few notes.

A steady drumbeat starts, a hint of bass, possibly upright, alongside. To this rhythm and pattern, one of the fiddles ekes out a graceful slow reel. The keys ripple and it is all very refined and defined. The mix of instrumentation, even with the fiddle lead, contrives to be decidedly different, free of any overt comparison. You might call it chamber-y, but quite what sort of chamber defies the existing categories.

A modestly amplified repeating motif of electric guitar beckons in another fiddle melody, as Jennings clatters about his kit, embracing unorthodoxy on all fronts. Various synthesised textures bleep and boost discreetly behind this signature. The track is April, and at the half way mark, the guitar begins a strict tempo strum, as a trigger for, now, both fiddles to fire off together. Again there is a hint of bass in the mix, too, this provided by guest, Jodie Bremanson, the man from Skerryvore. During this faster section, Jennings and O’Flaherty are each conspicuously noticeable, beavering about near as much as the two string players. If the unison fiddles provide the trad, the other two are equivocally anti-trad in their approach, it somehow still melding. I like.

CEILIDH Vs. MIRRORBALL

Le Kleub eases back a little, the band here happy to embrace a near straight approximation of a Shetland ceilidh night; Rae hails from the North East and is the likely purveyor of such a sound. Near-straight, mind, there still enough room to warp the expected model into their own image. Jennings certainly has more arms than the average Lerwick dance band. Honk then piles in with a whole different vibe, as a funky piano and backbeat conjure up a mirrorball. With the fiddles exuding a faint Hot Club ambience, O’Flaherty confounds expectation by taking an acid jazz spin across his keys. As the fiddles try to wrest back normalcy, it is as if the two halves of the band are competing each to steer the direction. So, a burst of florid fiddle play get followed by a Django familiar guitar. It is gorgeously and gloriously bonkers.

Similar guitar picks out some ragtime syncopation for Outbreak, with pizzicato fiddle gently jigging in the aisle. An almost bluesy lope, with a maritime tang to it, filters through into a fluid fiddle part, becoming then full hornpipe, as it stamps on the gas. Jennings’ percussion, always inventive, is now as choppy as the Minch in winter. Not for the first time, there are jangly chiming elements dropping into the whole, adding yet more exhilaration and exuberance to the journey. Resurrect then picks up on all the bluster, another brisk canter, with all four musicians blazing. White light and heat add to the white heather, as sneaky snatches of jazzier tropes cut against the 4:4. Even as whiffs of western film themes make themselves apparent, always it captivates.

GREATEST PROMISE

Deer Park suggests something mellower, and is, starting with the sound of waves breaking on the shoreline. Tinkling piano and acoustic guitar pick out a delicate air, a shuffle rhythm beneath. One fiddle, then two, weave in some pastoralism and all is well, especially as a marimba like tone, to his piano, is evoked by O’Flaherty. With Interlude being just that, sounds of cottage industry, possibly a loom, and then some ambient electronica before piano and percussion, is this a deliberate break before the closing number, D’Ya Know?

It seems to be, this being the closest semblance to straightforward tradfolk in the set, albeit with still sufficient Astro Bloc quirk presented. A belter live, of that there can be little doubt, it feels a reminder that their credentials for this are kosher, a calling card to get them through the door. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great finale, but it is within the earlier tracks that the greatest promise lies.

CONFIDENT AND CAPABLE

This is a confident and capable opening gambit by anyone’s reckoning, proving yet again the myriad possibilities within the tradition, available to anyone with half a heart and half a mind to insert their own individual imprint upon it. It seems the band are protégés of Mohsen Amini, the ebullient frontman of Talisk, and he produced this superb opening salvo. Mixing and recording was performed by another musician with firm ideas of what can be drawn from the historical lineage that informs this music, Scott Wood, of Skerryvore, possibly explaining also the presence of Bremanson on occasional bass.

Here is Outbreak, in the studio:

Astro Bloc: Website

At The Barrier: Facebook / Instagram / X