:: Deastro - Moondagger

Deastro

Religion-inspired bands and pastor’s offspring always draw guarded fear and suspicion from the music loving masses. Everything they do is so anti-hardcore and polite, think Jessica Simpson the early years, and you know they’re just dying to break out in a Jesus Loves Me ballad. Luckily, little-known Detroit solo artist and pastor’s son Deastro challenges this rather sterile Christian music stereotype with his new album Moondagger. Deastro, aka Randolph Chabot, may only be 22, but he’s a well seasoned music legend on the underground indie scene, self-releasing more than three albums’ worth of songs and playing countless live shows. Moondagger’s opener ‘Biophelia’ sets the tone for the entire album and that tone is upbeat and happy, no joke. Simply put, ‘Biophelia’ is like a Mario game on crack. It’s cosmic funk dementia with bells and lasers. ‘Parallelogram’ continues that inspirational and joyful tone but this time with a bit more pop and a lot less insane synth magic. ‘Greens, Gray’s and Nordic,’ on the other hand, is a much mellower affair. A Placebo inspired track, Deastro yearns for human contact before breaking into yet another futuristic and sparkling electro-pop chorus. In fact, it’s impossible to find a track on Moondagger that isn’t on a space adventure. Track after track rockets past planets, experimenting with very high electric guitar chords and artificially-produced sounds that not even Jamiroquai had the balls to mess with. Hard to pin down, Deastro’s sound is best described as indie meets pop for a night of cosmic electro dance. All that youthful energy is right there in front of you song after song bouncing around like its got A.D.D. But that doesn’t necessarily make Moondagger a bad album. Sure you’re exhausted when you get to the end of it, but its pure enthusiasm and adrenaline is addictive. A definite listen-when-you’re-hyper (or high)-album, Moondagger is pure fun and takes you back to those carefree days when you believed in superheroes, aliens and monsters in the closet.