For almost two decades, Irish instrumental post-rockers God Is An Astronaut have cultivated a sound rooted in the electric guitar, characterized by crunchy, gain-driven leads and ethereal cleans.
Last month, the band released 10th studio album Ghost Tapes #10, a seven-track culmination of their musical expertise. Throughout the record, the four-piece remain true to form, offering up some of their most cinematic, soaring compositions yet.
But while the electric guitar forms the foundation of their sound, the group's compositions – particularly the cleaner, feel-driven cuts – work tremendously well played on acoustic guitar, too.
Guitarists Jamie Dean and Torsten Kinsella join us today to showcase their catalogue's unplugged potential, as they deliver playthroughs of Luminous Waves and First Day of Sun.
Dean and Kinsella play Gibson SJ-200 and Martin OMC Aura acoustic guitars, respectively, close-mic'd using Royer 121 and 122 ribbon microphones.
“A lot of our material was initially written on an acoustic guitar before transposing it to an electric guitar and then embellishing it with textures,” the band say.
“We thought it would be interesting if we stripped the songs back to their origin. We chose Luminous Waves from our new album and First Day of Sun from our self-titled album (2008).”
Ghost Tapes #10 is available now via Napalm Records.
