God Is an Astronaut

God Is an Astronaut made a strong claim to being the best Irish indie export of the 2000s, thanks to their mix of epic melodies of post-rock, the precision of electronic-fuelled Krautrock à la Tangerine Dream and elements of space rock. The band's status was further boosted by their active anti-war stance and their fierce live performances, which place a lot of emphasis on the visuals: the shows, especially in the band's earlier days, included self-compiled videos for each song and a lot of lighting work. Brothers Torsten and Niels Kinsella (guitar/keyboards and bass/guitars respectively), the group's driving force, come from Glen of the Downs in Wicklow, and played in a number of local bands before teaming up with the drummer Lloyd Hanney, the disciple of the famous jazzman Johnny Wadham, to form God Is an Astronaut, which debuted with the electro-tinged album The End of the Beginning (2002), out on their own label Revive Records. The two singles off the CD, The End of the Beginning and From Dust to the Beyond (both 2003), got airplay on several European MTV channels, same as Fragile (2004), which promoted their second album All Is Violent, All Is Bright (2005). Avoiding the sophomore slump -- the record gathered a lot of rave reviews -- God Is an Astronaut settled on a steady record schedule, releasing the EP A Moment of Stillness in 2006 and the third album, Far from Refuge, in 2007 (it was also available as a download). Far from Refuge was promoted by a sold-out European tour that reached as far as Moscow and Istanbul, where they played a festival crowd of 25,000. The debut U.S. tour in early 2008, however, was more of a bummer, as the band had all of their equipment stolen in New Jersey. Returning to their home turf, God Is An Astronaut hit the studio again,...