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everything ASHRR
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Powered by the contrasting trajectories of three unique sound auteurs, ASHRR’s after-hours party soundtrack is a meditative Californian concoction of silky space disco transmissions destined to be danced to from dusk ‘til dawn… whether commemorating the end of an era or celebrating new beginnings.
Founded in Los Angeles and shimmering under the majestic wide-open skies of Joshua Tree’s dust lands, ASHRR unite across seemingly disparate worlds. Combining their collective sum of influences and experience in every genre, as sonic explorers and psychedelic pleasure-seekers of the truth, Grammy award-nominated producer Ethan Allen, vocalist Steven Davis, and pianist and multi-instrumentalist Josh Charles blend their influences into interplanetary recordings for desert, city or beach. “The city is a kaleidoscope of stimulants and the desert is where you can find yourself; the space is a blank canvas without interruption,” Ethan explains. “We invite our minds to fill the void which brings those worlds together.”
Propelling a new present from their past lives, ASHRR astutely map the human condition with sound as they examine the complexity of Joy through cost. “It’s a darker, impure form of joy… like how memory colors experience. You could be looking at a Polaroid of happier times but long to relive it,” Ethan tells. “Sometimes you’ve got to trick yourself into a place of positivity.”
Capturing perhaps the brightest skies of the band’s melancholic, wistful catalogue so far arrives ‘Sunshine Low’ – with insatiable summer vibes, doused in the gauzy washed out chill of what it might be like for a hyper-real fantasy to become actuality, it evokes the mellow feeling of holding on to an almost-perfect moment with a significant other before eventually being forced to let go; “I wanna stay on the other side of grey / and swim under the stars in the sunlight.” Casting its rays through a cloudy filter ‘Sunshine Low’ marks a celestial high for the band whilst paving the way for plenty more to come. “You appreciate the sunshine because there are times you haven’t had it,” Josh says, “so it is only natural to really want to celebrate it. ASHRR mirrors that; it’s a response to what’s in front of you in light of what has gone before.”
Brought together through a shared love of swapping playlists, constellations aligned when Josh and Steven, both making music in Nashville, were introduced by mutual friends. Immediately bonding over their love of Big Band music, new ideas emerged due to the demands of its style and they began reinventing 80s classics with an atmospheric, cinematic twist. Shortly introduced to fellow audiophile Ethan, the trio formed a brotherly bond and first song ‘Medicine Man’ emerged. Debut LP Oscillator followed, offering good vibrations engulfed by dystopian darkwave and dark matter of the mind as it contemplated concern for what they, and everyone else, were witnessing in the world. “Our process is an alchemy of back and forth musical conversations. It’s not Machiavellian by design or chaotic… it’s a life form of its own and keeps evolving; we love where it’s taking us.”
Instinctively transcribing an emotional stream of subconscious, the tracks are demoed between Josh’s home studio and Ethan’s garage-turned-studio affectionately named Royal Triton, where instrumentals shape shift as they take on new alien forms. Relocating to the desert, lyrics are developed; Steven’s crooning complementing the trio’s otherworldly harmonies. Encouraged by early reviews from LA Weekly, Buzzbands.la and more whilst singles ‘Same Way,’ ‘Don’t Wait Too Long,’ and ‘Waves’ continue to dance upon on KCRW, NPR, and KROQ playlists, their approach is one of fearlessness as they recreate the tension release of their live audiences to convey the universal language of hips that shake and hearts that race. “We’re capturing the physicality of what it really is to feel something,” Josh explains.
With the meaning of ASHRR in a constant state of flux, this band proves everything happens for a reason. As the natural orbit of these changelings catches a Pacific breeze and they hurtle ever-closer towards a destination unknown, only one thing is certain; ASHRR’s unstoppable rise is written in the stars.
