Astra members resurface in new prog outfit Birth

New prog outfit Birth have streamed their brand new self-titled EP, which you can listen to below. Birth is available through Tee Pee Records and you can listen to the whole thing in the player below.

The quartet feature Astra members Conor Riley (keyboards, vocals, acoustic guitar) and Brian Ellis (guitar) and, for the debut EP, Paul Marrone on drums as well as bassist Trevor Mast.

Astra made a big impact with their 2009 debut The Weirding and released a second album, The Black Chord, in 2012, but little has been heard of them since.

"The roots of said overgrowth may well lead some listeners back to the wide-eyed days of the early 70’s, offering shades of The Yes Album, the wayward serenades of Van der Graaf Generator, the demented potency of King Crimson and even the stellar travelogue of Far East Family Band," say ther band's label.

"Yet with those roots planted deep in such psychic territory and expressive techniques, Birth can stretch their vines upward and allow their collective imagination to reach fresh and unfathomable new heights in their planet's atmosphere. Elegiac mellotron-assisted song-craft, richly melodious abandon and monumental solo passages thus join forces to result in a richly affecting kosmische melancholia."

Birth is also available as a free download.

Birth: Birth
1. Descending Us
2. Cosmic Tears
3. The Long Way Down

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.