A MOMENT OF STILLNESS

20+ minutes long, this EP offers a bit colder atmosphere and ambient-like approach, than GIAA’s most recent album. Less catchy / groovy, it nevertheless shows band’s signature aces: strong melodic gift, flawless quality of playing and recording and that “arctic lounge mood” (c), that every GIAA album has. Check it if you like the band, but I would hardly call them my favourite Post- Rock band. On the other hand, this is one of the best “background music” records I ever listened to. Decide for yourself.

The last post rock album i bought ( i only have 5) was GIAA´s All is Violent All is Bright, and i did it because i love it and really wanted to get it since the very first listen, it becomes fastly in one of my favorite post rock albums, after that, i managed to listen to their 2007 release and to this EP which was released last year and contains 5 songs and a total time of 22 minutes approx, so as you can imagine sometimes these kind of EP´s or short albums makes our reviews shorter as usual.

This trio from Ireland has a peculiar and unique sound, most of their songs have the same essence so that make them recognizable to someone who has listened to the band previously, and despite being so short, this EP is a worth listening. It starts with probably one of the best tracks here, well im wrong, actually the best and longest track called "Frozen Twilight" which has all the GIAA style and feeling, that is a beautiful song which could make you feel confortable and sometimes relaxed, it´s first 2 minutes are calm and soft then it becomes a "stronger" song for over 2 minutes and finally it returns to the calm mood.

"A Moment of Stillness" is what everyone needs, nad maybe this kind of music may put you in that mood of relaxation, i consider some post rock as a therapy if i had a bad day at work or something, i said some post rock because it´s not the same to listen to ASMZ or GIAA or 65DOS, but this band´s music works if what you want is to feel better, this song is also nice with the same context slow-faster-slower. "Forever Lost" is the track i already was familiar, this is a great song which starts with a nice piano and then the guitars appear, another thing i like so much is the role of vocals, despite not having any lyric, that is not necessary since it makes you feel comfortable. The last 2 songs are the shortest ones and probably the less good songs, just tracks to finish this EP "Elysian Fields" and "Crystal Canyons" are just a two more songs with the same style, nothing more.

So if you know the band, then you will enjoy this EP, if you don´t know the band yet, then i invite you to get one of their albums you could start with either a studio album or this EP, i bet you will have a nice and worth listening, of course this is not an essential album, but i also do not consider only for collectors, my final grade is 3 stars.

Nice Dreamy Post-Rock

A friend recently loaned me a collection of his post-rock and post-metal albums, and among the more enjoyable offerings in that group was God is an Astronaut's A MOMENT OF STILLNESS. At EP length, it is a very nice bite-size chunk of atmospheric mood music that I have really enjoyed playing while I work. Like virtually all bands in the post-rock genre, the name of the game here is repetition upon repetition with long builds and falls of emotion. Most of this music ends up being a kind of background music for me, either while I'm doing something else or when I want to let my mind ease off into another little world. The difference between Post-Rock bands, for me, is how effectively the music allows me to do the latter. This EP does the job fairly well, thanks mostly to healthy doses of modern psych-pop sounds.

The scenes that GiaA evoke for me are somewhat melancholy, sleepy affairs. Shadows lengthen as sunfall proceeds. A lonely swing lazily arcs on a fall day with brown leaves blowing about. An adolescent sits alone in her bedroom watching the dust swirl in a sunbeam. I think you get the idea. This is an introspective, moody music that certainly is going to seem boring to some listeners. It's not hyper math rock, it's not meticulous, lush symphonic prog, and with no vocals it's not even dream-pop. It's modern mood music, well done, but pretty limited in scope.

I like this album for what it is. The musicians do a good job of layering and creating an atmosphere, but frankly there were plenty of bands doing this twenty years ago with a female singer adding addition flavor to the mix. Pleasant but not in the least challenging. 2/5.