Previously impressing with tracks like “Hips“, Portland’s Astro Tan continues their masterful display of unique lushness with “Whiskey + Water”, a great track that finds the group experimenting with heavier textures and more spaciousness than before. “We recorded ourselves in large, cavernous spaces (atriums, a dead-room bunker in an old fish-packing plant) in conjunction with warm, isolated signals; often using the base of an old wooden waterbed frame,” member Sam Wegman says. “The approach for ‘Whiskey + Water’ (much like the record) utilized a cyclical process of destruction and re-imagining; the intent being to harness both the commanding power of darkness and the lush euphoria of new growth.”
The track touts a mellow sense of darkness in its melodic guitar twangs and dual vocal layering, the more reverb-friendly recording setting playing well to Astro Tan’s strengths, particularly how the Anthony Kiedis-esque vocals slide seamlessly alongside the accompaniment – picking up intensity admirably at certain points, like around 02:19 when additional distortion and vocal layering makes for a suave hook. It’s a fantastic track that makes me anticipate the group’s upcoming release a ton.
