Come Closer and I’ll Tell You

A nice bit of absract impressionism from Sweden; touches of Can in the drums, and a cinematic feel in the spacious but dynamic soundscapes. Astro Sonic are Erlend Slettevoll on synths, Rune Nergaard, bass, and Gard Nilssen on drums (the latter two having played together in power trio Bushman’s Revenge for some time). The synths don’t sound like the variety that became tiring in the eighties, in fact one isn’t even a synth it’s a Fender Rhodes and the others are a Moog Voyager and Prophet V. 

This is something that the music does as well. There is a fair bit of krautrock influence in evidence, but this is tempered by a Nordic vibe that makes for a less direct form of astral travel. It gets pretty intense in places but turns ambient in others, there’s plenty of diversity on offer which is no bad thing. The finale is where it all comes together, where the prog element reels you in and sets your imagination pulsing. 

It was recorded on analogue tape at Svenske Grammofon, this delivers a quality result that puts Astro Sonic’s latest on a higher plane. Come Closer and I’ll Tell You’s only real shortcoming is its 34 minute duration but it’s all good stuff.