We first became aware of Astral Pedlars and their chirpy baroque-pop when we interviewed band member Roy Clutterbuck about his zine and gig night The Infinite Pop Underground (read that piece here), and were soon smitten with their unusual mix of synths, sax and flute augmenting the more traditional indie band staples. So when they got in touch about new single ‘Where’s The Undergound?’ we jumped at the chance of bringing you the premiere of the mixed-media video they’ve made to go with it.
We asked Roy for a few words about the track:
“We recorded the track about a year ago with the fantastic Marketstall Recording. It was our first time in the studio, there was a lot of excitement, laughs and love. We wanted to get it out as soon as possible, but as a result of the pandemic, we paused and had to rethink. We wanted to celebrate the track and make a video, but we knew we weren’t going to be able to do it in the standard way. So we overcame the lockdown barriers through the powers of green screen and video editing. It’s been tough not to be able to gig and play music together as normal, but making this music video has been a really joyful way for us to keep collaborating, even if from afar. We hope you enjoy watching it also.
“This is the first chapter of the Astral Pedlars’ narrative. We find the Pedlars plagued by existential confusion, systems of communication that feed alienation, and empty performances of meaning. Undefeated, the Pedlars quest on. They narrowly escape an encounter with Nihil, the demon of the void, and, summoning the creative powers of Lucifer, they tune out the static and make a break for freedom into the Astral Plane… to be continued.”
‘Where’s The Underground?’ is available now as a digital download via Bandcamp.
Introduction by Paul Maps
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