Deastro 'Moondagger' album

Randolph Chabot has been making albums since he was 12 years old -- now, at 22, the Detroit-based musician known as Deastro is ready for his close-up. "Vermillion Plaza" the second single from Deastro's upcoming full-length debut Moondagger, miniaturizes the album's best assets and shoots them out of a cannon. Plucky synth arpeggios, end-of-the-world choruses, joyously careening melody lines--it's all there, squashed into a life-affirming three minutes and 50 seconds. When Chabot pleads for contact, singing, "Would you be my son / 'cause all of mine have died?," it's less a cry of self-pity than an exhilarating salute to the power of human connection.

Recently, Chicago-based photographer/videographer James P. Morse--a longtime friend and collaborator of Ghostly's--followed Chabot around Detroit for a day and edited the footage into "Ghostly Presents: Deastro," a video profile whose warm, colorful aesthetic matches Chabot's energy and positivity to a T. Chabot putters around his Detroit home, visits his favorite bookstore, gushes about Isaac Asimov and Simone de Beauvoir, and plays a sweaty, packed show with his band. It's a loving portrait of an artist who stays true to his beliefs, staying passionate, engaged, and creative in all of his endeavors.

Deastro's full-band debut, Moondagger, arrives on June 23rd, and his "Vermillion Plaza" single -- along with its B-side, a squelchy, lumbering remix by Ghostly Swim featured artist Mux Mool -- drops May 12th on Ghostly International.

Deastro tour dates
June 10 - NY @ Mercury Lounge
June 12 - Brooklyn @ Studio B
June 13 - Montreal @ Le Divan Orange
June 15 - Cleveland @ Bside Liquor Lounge
June 17 - Chicago @ Double Door
June 18 - Minneapolis @ 7th Avenue Entry
June 21 - Vancouver @ Media Club
June 22 - Seattle WA @ TBD
June 23 - Portland @ Holocene
June 24 - San Francisco @ Bottom of the Hill
June 25 - LA @ Spaceland

Deastro biography
When Randolph Chabot, the 22-year-old auteur behind Deastro, is asked about the title of his new album, he recounts a dream about a prince, a kingdom, an evil King of Darkness, and a search for the mythical “Moondagger,” the bearer of which wields ultimate power. And while Moondagger, Deastro’s astonishing new album, does contain traces of that dream–in all of its bittersweet, fantasy-novel glory–the record itself is infinitely more down-to-earth, containing the sort of unrelentingly earnest, inspirational pop music that could only come from a kid weaned on fiction but living desperately, joyously in the here-and-now.

Moondagger expands upon the positive electro-pop of Keepers – Deastro’s home-recorded opus from 2008 – with the addition of a full band. Thankfully, the mercurial, prolific Chabot still seems blissfully unaware of his music’s genreless-ness.

Thick, atmospheric production obscures bright, starry-eyed melodies; ecstatic synth squiggles dance around new-wave beats on songs about Nordics, toxic crusaders, and geometric shapes; arrangement ideas bounce off one another within ambitious song structures that swerve left, then right, then left again.

And yet underneath all of their seeming irreverence, Deastro’s songs are breathtakingly down-to-earth – melodic slices of synth-led experimental pop whose energy builds with each iteration of the chorus, hitting emotional peak after emotional peak until they collapse in a heap. The album-opening “Biophelia” can barely contain its heart-in-throat urgency, Chabot’s rapid-fire delivery slicing through layers of shoegaze-y ambience; “Vermillion Plaza,” plucky synth arpeggios ricochet off cavernous echo-chamber walls, Chabot pleads for human contact, asking “would you be my son, ‘cause of all of mine have died?”

Moondagger hums with Chabot’s faith in the goodness of his family and friends (“People are so amazing that I can’t help but write about what makes them who they are,” Chabot says), and yet, there’s a lurking sense that the optimist’s fight is never over. The title of Moondagger’s centerpiece, “Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed in the Heart with the Moondagger by the King of Darkness and His Ghost Is Writing this Song as a Warning to All of Us,” says it all: Among all the Beach Boys backing vocals and keyboard confetti-curliques, there’s an eternal battle raging; with Deastro, Randolph Chabot is out to win the war for the forces of good.

Deastro tour dates
03.12 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
03.13 Nashville, TN @ The Mercury Lounge
03.14 St. Louis, MO @ Cicero's
03.15 Little Rock, AK @ House Party
03.16 Dallas, TX @ Good Records
03.17 Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's Sixth
3/18 Austin, TX @ Emo's Annex (IODA Showcase @ 1:30pm)
3/20 Austin, TX @ Radio Room (Mojo presents Ghostly International/Full Time Hobby Showcase @ 11pm)
3/21 Austin, TX @ Club Primos (Day Party @ 3pm)
03.22 Hot Sprinngs, AK @ Valley of the Vapors
03.23 Fayetteville, AK @ The Smoke and Barrel
03.24 Kansas City, MO @ The Church
03.27 Brooklyn, NY @ Bruer Falls w/ Choir of Young Believers
03.28 New York City, NY @ Cake Shop w/ The Chap
04.04 Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room (Spritle 7" Release Party)

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Deastro - Moondagger