GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT & THE MANTRA ABOVE THE SPOTLESS MELT MOON - Split

This is a classic promotional mini-album, this EP shared by the Irish God Is An Astronaut and the Italians The Mantra Above the Spotless Melt Moon. One side each, just four tracks while waiting for their respective full-length releases (ed.: given the regrettable delay of these lines, GIAA's fourth LP came out about a month ago, while our compatriots' debut is expected in early 2009).

Post-rock against post-rock, newcomers against an established name, unreleased against released: it's hard not to draw comparisons.

Side A belongs to the Mantra, who start well, building unconventional structures. "Helder Pedro Moreira" conjures ghosts with its dangling sounds and daring vocal harmonies, but in the end their sonic exploration collapses into the most familiar guitar clatter of "The Fog". The band shows a certain raw rock energy but still lacks maturity in structuring its songs.

God Is An Astronaut, for their part, show with the older single "No Return" how consolidated their formula is and how concrete their sound has become. Of course, over the years the great limitation of the Belgians – the lack of any real artistic depth – makes itself felt more and more, and the difficulties are evident whenever they venture even a single step away from the dutiful repetition (the shape of Mogwai, the contents of Sigur Rós) in "Far From Refuge", the title track of their third LP.

To be frank: we wait for the first to mature and for the second to lay down their arms.

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24/12/2008