Late Aster: Light Rail Session

Late Aster
Light Rail Session

Release date: 09/29/2023

Situated somewhere between jazztronica, ambient electronic, and chamber pop, San Francisco-based Late Aster’s music has been described as producing “unprecedented sounds” (SF Chronicle) that “on paper [] shouldn’t work, but it does.” (Tape-Op) Their first release, an EP called True and Toxic (2021), articulated a kaleidoscopic theory of music grounded in the electronic processing of trumpet and French horn and supported by meticulous songwriting, instrumentation, and sound-sculpting.

Their second EP Light Rail Session picks up stylistically where the group left off in 2021, flowing from song to song as though slowly revealing the contours of a Calabi–Yau manifold, each moment projecting a wholly distinct yet unified headspace. The group now leans even more heavily on their backgrounds in the classical and jazz worlds—but with a modern electronic twist, evoking humanity’s cyclical movement from analogue to digital and back again via the waves of momentum and retreat.

Light Rail Session is a four song EP that represents the culmination of an experimentation in the relentless and embarrassing collection of electronic equipment. Late Aster, primarily featuring Aaron Messing (trumpet, keys, vocals) and Anni Hochhalter (French horn, drum machine/samples, vocals), started out playing together at open mics with a Juno Gi and a Korg volca beats, in addition to their horns. The live EP finds them decked out with multiple analogue synthesizers, dozens of effects pedals, and audio samplers, in an intricate dance with each other and their array of instruments. The group pairs each song with videos of their live performances. But much like their musical output, the group envelopes the live performance video in multiple layers of obscurity, shooting the videos to Hi-8 tape and framing them inside a portable VHS television apparently carried to some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet.

The session was recorded live at Light Rail Studios in San Francisco by Charles Mueller, another member of the group, who mixed the EP at Stinson Beach Studio Panoramic House and his own New York City studio, Tiny Panther Studio . The EP was co-produced and mastered by long-time collaborator Mark Yoshizumi.

Recorded live at Light Rail Studios in San Francisco on June 9, 2023.  

Aaron Messing: Trumpet, Synthesizers, Vocals
Anni Hochhalter: French horn, Drum machine, Vocals

Recorded and Mixed by Charles Mueller
Mastered by Mark Yoshizumi
Spaceship Construction by Elton Cunniffe

Mixed at the Panoramic House and Tiny Panther Studios
Cover design by Deadeye Press