The music made by this French quartet on their third album, and first on Rune Grammofon, manages to convincingly straddle the increasingly slender hinterland that separates Earth in their current incarnation and Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk. The opening title track begins with a passage of low, ruminative electric guitar similar to Dylan Carson on his current form, but then suddenly stops to splinter into an extended ambient and atmospheric form of improvisation. Much of „High Blues“ stays within this register, although there are shades of musical film noir within the guitar twangs of „Suite“. The sense of slow drift, of music to contemplate dust particles floating through the air, is heightened by Astrïd´s arrangement of a piece by Erik Satie. It´s an appropriate fit as, like Satie, Astrïd produce chamber music which allows the mind to focus or wander at will.
Rock-a-Rolla (UK)
HIGH BLUES von ASTRID ist ein Highlight von Rune Grammofon 2012.