''Astronaut'' is the fourth studio album by the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based musician and DJ Ash Walker, released by

Night Time Stories Night Time Stories is an English independent record label founded by Paul Glancy in 2009. It is notable for releasing the ''Late Night Tales'' compilation series since 2009 by artists such as Trentemøller, Röyksopp, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Bill ...

on 30 June 2023. It features contributions by

Lou Rhodes Lou Rhodes is an English singer and songwriter from Manchester, now living in Wiltshire. In addition to providing vocals and lyrics for the band Lamb, Rhodes has released four solo albums: ''Beloved One'', '' Bloom'' and '' One Good Thing'' and ...

Andrew Ashong Andrew Ashong is a British-Ghanaian soul singer-songwriter, DJ and record producer from Forest Hill, London, Forest Hill in South London. He spent his teenage years searching for records and by 16 he was DJing and working on his own productions ...

, Amp Fiddler,

Joe Armon-Jones Joseph Armon-Jones (born February 1993) is a British musician, keyboardist, composer, producer and bandleader. His debut album, ''Starting Today'', was released in May 2018 and his second album, ''Turn To Clear View'', was released in September ...

, and

Yazz Ahmed Yazz Ahmed (born 1983) is a British- Bahraini trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer. Her music mixes Arabic and Western influences. She has worked with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Rufus Reid, John Zorn, Ash Walker, the London Jazz Orchestra, and also re ...

, among others.

Background

Ash Walker wrote the album on different locations with a number of sessions musicians and collaborators. He almost finished working on the album by 2020 but wasn't happy with the mixes, so he invited a friend to help him with EQ and decided to replace a track. He has described his recording technique on ''Astronaut'' as an "anti-sound engineer" approach because he thinks that " ittingfor weeks and months trying to iron out bits of white noise or EQing this and that" detracts him from his vision about how the album should sound. Walker described the concept of the album:

Reception

John-Paul Shiver of ''Treble'' wrote, "For some, the ideology of stretching across decades of musical ideas reaching from

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

to King Tubby,

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

to Curtis Mayfield would just short-circuit some arrangers’ brainwave activity. But Mr. Walker has the first concept down right that sees his herculean projects of putting soul into this time-traveling entity come to fruition without exception", and "Walker and his laundry list of experts—

, Ebi Soda, Oscar Jerome,

and Kennebec—bunker down for the dignified arrangements, an school Quincy Jones feeling, that I can attest will stick with you for days, weeks, seasons and most definitely years." Chris May of '' All About Jazz'' wrote that although ''Astronaut'' "is by no stretch of the imagination a 'jazz' album, ..itis likely to find part of its audience among open-eared jazz aficionados, particularly those tuned into the London underground jazz scene with which Walker is loosely affiliated. ..''Astronaught'' is best approached via the eclectic route adopted by Walker."

Track listing

# "Only Love" (featuring

) # "Letting Go" (featuring

) # "Afronaut" (featuring Amp Fiddler & Laville) # "Babylonian Triangle of Captivity" (featuring Ebi Soda) # "Time Gets Wasted" (featuring Sly5thAve & Denitia) # "Automation" (featuring Oscar Jerome &

) # "Running Away" (featuring

& Laville) # "Petrol Head" (featuring Laville) # "Detroit Velvet Smooth" (featuring Yazz Ahmed) # "Jupiter" (featuring Kennebec)

References

{{reflist

External links

*
Astronaut
' at

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Ash Walker albums 2023 albums Night Time Stories albums