Monolith marks the official inception of Astral Taurus. Dealing with feelings of non-belonging, mistrust and thoughts of afterlife, the self-produced debut EP is a darker meditation on human consciousness. Monolith is accompained by cover artwork that was painted in four sessions, each mirroring the subject matter of one song.
In this interview feature, we chat with Astral Taurus about the new release, influences, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and the video for Supercluster below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from southern Germany, from Tübingen to be more accurate. My style of music could in general probably be described as indie pop, I like to call it alternative myself though especially because that includes a wider range of musical styles that all flow into my music. The 80-ish synths could give it the ‘New Wave’-banner as well in some moments, but that all goes under alternative for me!
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
I have always been interested in a lot of different styles of music – my favorite bands range from Arcade Fire to Metallica for example. As a particular style of music I have however always been especially drawn to things like Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks or Kate Bush in terms of my songwriting. There is just something about that era of music that doesn’t get put into music as much anymore nowadays…I don’t know, maybe something got lost along the way. It’s very hard for me to describe that feeling but it’s a heartbreaking and very empowering sound at the same time.
What motivates me to stay on course…I think it’s really not in my power that much as this sound just flows out of my pen onto the paper right now. But right now I’m luckily in the right headspace for this music and I really enjoy it!
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
This EP ‘Monolith’ is my first real release. Previous to that I have only put out a demo concept album to get my older songs to find a home of some sorts. The songs on ‘Monolith’ were flowing very good together so I decided to put them on a EP together as the first thing that people will hear from me. I think the lyrical content really reflects a certain side of my personality very good as well as the music does.
As for the single ‘Supercluster’ I’m very happy on how it came out, especially the lyrics because I was able to put exactly what I wanted to say into these few bars that the song allowed me to put in. I always wanted to right about this feeling of not belonging and a kind of wanderlust in a song and I think I was able to do that in a maybe less cheesy way than you would normally expect from this subject matter, not least because of what the lyrics imply in the very end.
Do you face challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? How has technology helped you (assuming it helps)?
Music in a digital age is really a two edged sword for aspiring musicians in my opinion. On one hand you can get your music into the world in a matter of seconds which has helped me a lot and on the other hand there is a lot more noise out there because everyone is able to record and put out their music nowadays. Maybe these two sides cancel each other out in the end so the situation is the same as back in the old days, just that there is much more material out there.
Where can we connect with you online and discover more music?
Facebook/Astraltaurus is the best way to connect with me through social media! You can discover more music there as well. You can find my music in my online store on bandcamp or on all the digital outlets such as iTunes, Spotity, Apple Music etc.!
Anything else before we sign off?
I really hope that people will enjoy ‚Monolith’ and will join me on this journey. I’m really looking forward to hearing what people have to say about it! Thanks for the interview!
