"'Dichotomy' was an experiment in juxtaposition--inspired by a lecture on sea level rise from climate change, the idea was to create two sections that repeat but feel almost nothing alike, much like landscapes that will be simultaneously the same but unrecognizable over the course the coming centuries" stated Late Aster's Aaron Messing. "The song features open and prepared piano sounds produced by our home recording studio's moss green Steinway upright from 1904, creating the prominent opposition: beauty and roundness versus dampened and percussive."
"All of the on-location filming was captured during the 'magic hour' on the coastal cliffs in San Francisco," noted Anni Hochhalter. "The video is a tribute to our obsession with the rocks and waves, and colors of the sky at sunset."
The members of Late Aster - Messing, Hochhalter, Cameron LeCrone, and Charles Mueller - all met while studying music performance in jazz and/or classical at Northwestern University and the University of Southern California. The quartet were quickly united by a love of experimentation, melding brass instruments with electronics, using forms and melodies influenced by popular music to push the boundaries between classical, jazz, pop, and rock. With their sound, Late Aster looks to draw out the intimacy and versatility of instruments commonly relegated to a passive, secondary role in rock music.
The quartet chose the name Late Aster, referring to wildflowers and nighttime stars. "We wanted a name that somehow captured the world as both earthly - the things we feel like we can perceive. And celestial - the forces on the edge of our perception," offered Hochhalter.
True and Toxic is a collection of musical sketches on the modern human condition. Focused on relationships, politics, science, and digital society, the songs string together disparate mediums and influences-digital and analogue, silicon and brass, composed and improvisatory-to create a soundtrack for the polarizing present. Each song is paired with visual accompaniment. Along with Harrison Atkins, the group collaborated with Four/Ten Media, Deadeye Press, and Kelsey Boncato.
