6月26日 Sunday 星期日

光明与黑暗交织的太空之旅

——2016年爱尔兰后摇名团GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT重返中国 降临京沪双城

GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT［Ireland］

如果说在传统摇滚乐范畴里，现实主义框架下的种种社会现象和冲突是创作中取之不竭的源泉，那么今天的声音艺术家们，则更愿意把自己的音符负载于数千光年外外层空间的种种冥想。

作为新世纪后摇场景中最优秀的艺术家之一，来自爱尔兰Wicklow的器乐摇滚乐团－GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT（中文上帝宇航员，以下简称GIAA）由双胞胎兄弟Niels和Torsten Kinsella一手建立。在发行了首张demo后于2002年在他们自己的厂牌Revive Records发行首张正式唱片《The End of the Beginning》。这使得乐队从一开始，就得以完整保留在独立运作模式下进行自我发挥。在逐渐地建立起好口碑的同时，鼓手Lloyd Hanney加入进来，这让GIAA开始更多的尝试现场演出。他们在第一次巡演就准备了大量与音乐相配套的视觉素材，用以加强现场表演的整体效果。GIAA从此便掀起了一股视觉演出的新浪潮，并且在2005年初发行了具有突破性进展的第二张专辑《All is Violent, All is Bright》，从此在Post Rock领域声名鹊起，成为具有世界性影响的重要乐团。

GIAA在随后的2007年和2008年连续推出了《Far From Refuge》和《God Is An Astronaut》两张专辑，并通过在日本和美国的唱片发行，展开了历经20多个国家多达一百多场的超大规模巡演，很快他们就被观众定义为：来自爱尔兰的最具有现场视听爆发力的乐队之一，并以多场演出门票售罄跻身世界知名后摇乐队行列。2010年键盘/钢琴手Jamie Dean的加入，使GIAA的第五张专辑《Age Of The Fifth Sun》得以爆炸式的亮相，震撼人心的音乐，令他们成为了乐迷街头巷尾所热衷谈论的中心。乐队随后借席卷乐坛的后摇巨浪，再版发行了之前的全部五张专辑，并且每一张再版专辑都重新进行了新的缩混和后期制作，GIAA的乐迷群体得以更加壮大。在试验概念专辑《Origins》于2013年9月推出后，乐队再度拓宽了巡演领土，其中就包括中国以及遥远的巴西。

2015年6月21日，夏至——在这个一年中日照最长的24小时中，GIAA推出了最新的专辑作品《Helios | Erebus》，这张专辑经历了从2014年的12月22日冬至开始构思创作到制作完成，漫长的时光流转记录了乐队这次想要表达的「光明与黑暗」主题。这是乐队迄今为止发行过的音色最为重型的一张专辑，乐队在新的作品中，既最大化了他们所能够达到的能量强度，又一如既往保留了为人所熟识的黑暗氛围。无论你怎么定义形容GIAA的音乐——Post Rock 或Instrumental Rock亦或Space Rock，你都不要错过2016年夏至开始的GIAA中国大陆巡演，就像他们的专辑名字，希腊神话的太阳神和幽冥之神将带你进入光明与黑暗交织的太空音乐之旅！

God is an Astronaut are a 4 piece band who hail from Glen of the Downs, Ireland. Currently one of the worlds biggest instrumental bands they took their name from a line in Clive Barker’s film ‘Nightbreed’. The band was formed by twin brothers Niels and Torsten Kinsella in 2002. After recording their first demo’s and with numerous labels offering deals (yet looking for the band to add vocals to their music) they instead decided to set up their own label ‘Revive Records’ to release their debut album ‘The End of the Beginning’ in 2002. This crucially allowed the band to remain in complete creative control. Speaking on their debut, which was originally intended as the bands farewell to the music industry, the band say “we just wanted to finish on a release we were really proud of, we had no expectations at all.” Over the next couple of years after the album’s low key release, the band started to pick up interest mainly through word of mouth on-line with rave reviews on blogs. Both video singles from the album “The End of the Beginning” and “From Dust to the Beyond” received airplay across Europe on MTV. This was when the world was first exposed to the bands strong usage of visuals to enhance their music.

To this point God Is An Astronaut was purely a studio project. With word spreading, the band wanted to get out and to start playing the material live and so enlisted Lloyd Hanney (who was trained by the late jazz drumming legend Johnny Wadham) to join on drums. When first out on the road their tours included visuals that were added to the live show with the purpose to enhance the emotion and structure of the songs. Initially the band picked up a wave of publicity from this, often due to the shocking images that featured on the visuals, however as their confidence grew as live performers, they put the emphasis back on their music and released their breakthrough album “All is Violent, All is Bright” in early 2005.

In 2006 they released their first E.P. "A Moment of Stillness" (2012 version upgraded to full length album). This 5 track E.P. saw a much more ambient approach than before. In mid 2006 a licensing deal with U.K. label Rocket Girl (Vinita Joshi) saw both their E.P. and second album "All Is Violent, All Is Bright" being re-released and made available worldwide in both online stores and record stores through Pinnacle distribution (Darla USA).

"Far From Refuge" their third album was released in April 2007. This 9 track album was recorded between September 2006 - March 2007 and seen a more live band approach. An 11 track version was also released in Japan. In October that year the band embarked on their first long tour in Europe. Quickly they were considered one of the most intense live acts ever to come from Ireland due to their visual and sonic barrage.

In early 2008 they finally made it to the USA for their first tour. Although the tour was a success all their equipment was stolen after their last show in New York. But the band proved to be resilient and released their 4th "self titled" album "God Is An Astronaut" in late 2008. The album itself had a big rock production and a much heavier sound than before and was supported by a hectic touring schedule with 130 + shows in 20 different countries. Their last two European tours in 2009 completely sold out which helped further cement them as one of the big 3 post-rock instrumental bands in the world, even finishing in the top 90 worldwide bands on Last FM.

2010 seen the release of the band’s 6th album ‘Age Of The Fifth Sun’ and the band go from a 3 piece to a 4 piece with keyboard/piano player Jamie Dean joining the band. The band received rave reviews and the best ever reactions to their concerts due to the explosive energy of the new lineup. 2012 seen the re-release of their entire back catalogue, all the albums have been re-mastered by Tim Young @ Metropolis Mastering whose credits include Massive Attack, The Beatles etc...

God is an Astronaut’s 7th full-length album, Origins was released on September 16th 2013. Comprising a dozen tracks, Origins fluctuates from controlled ferment (‘Calistoga’) to plaintive, piano-led reverie (‘Autumn Song’) to rhapsodic, unapologetically melodic fever (‘Signal Rays’) while never losing its focus. Touring in support of the album brought the band to new territories like China and Brazil including over 100+ shows worldwide.

As with all the bands music to date, they describe the record as “a photograph or a snapshot of who we are in that moment of time”. Despite being 8 albums in, the band’s outlook and ethos still remains the same as it did on their debut – the sole priority being on releasing and performing music they love.

晚8点 // 350元（现场）/ 260元（预售 | 数量有限，售完即止）

Pm 8 // Rmb 350 (door) / 260 (presale | on a first-come-first-serve-basis)