We are all individual planets. At least it feels that way right now for many of us as we spin in orbit around the COVID-19 at the center of our lives and long for communing with other beings sheltered in their own corners of Galaxy Chico.
Thanks to the work of an adventurous few, there have been moments of virtual contact, and this week brings a couple of particularly industrious visitors who carry with them the promise of something that’s been all too rare: a shared moment of fun.
Chico disco-pop duo Astronaut Ice Cream drops its second album, Blue, this Friday (July 10), and will be hosting a livestream listening party on the band’s YouTube channel at 8 p.m.
“We’re gonna introduce and talk about each song, with some ‘visual aids,’ and then play the track,” said guitarist/electro-programmer Kirt Lind via email. “I hope people watch on their TVs or computers so they can hear how good it sounds. But I also hope people watch on their phones so they can live chat with us!
“It’s fun to be exploring new online art forms,” he added. “Quarantine has pushed us to be creative in that way.”
Lind and vocalist Heather Marie Ellison put as much work into Astronaut Ice Cream’s colorful aesthetic as they do the music, and in anticipation of the release their fun energy has been put to work in a couple of teaser videos for two of the new songs.
The first is for a sweet and hopeful number called “Better Days,” filmed by Joey Moshiri—with a neat editing effect to illustrate things getting “better.”
The second is for the breezy “Closer to You,” filmed and edited by Lind and featuring the bandmates as different characters that come to life in the pages of a 1980s teen mag.
The band plans on releasing videos for all nine tracks on Blue (available starting July 10 on the Astronaut Ice Cream Bandcamp page). Subscribe to the YouTube channel to see them all and to join the conversation for Friday’s listening party.
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