Astari Nite - Stereo Waltz

Founded back in 2007, this four man darkwave band has caught on a bit of a niche following in their current location of Miami. They've played alongside a few notable acts such as Peter Murphy, Cold Cave, Modern English, and even Apoptygma Berzerk. They even made it so far as to play at Miami's Ultra Music Festival in 2011 which helped garner them a few more fans. A tour later, a few music videos here and there, and they finally got signed to Danse Macabre. So, good for them, in all other words. However, it's really their music that has to stand out, not who they played with/opened for, or who they're signed to.

Stereo Waltz tries to find that independent spirit and drive that they've been aiming to establish since '07. And they hit a few right marks in a lot of different locations. For example, the rock aspirations are certainly well developed with the first song, Contentment. A laid back groove is sounded out with definite structures surrounding the Miami lifestyle.

Astrid plays next, continuing forth the same rhythm as the first song. Playing off on the overall gothrock tone, they have both the light heart feel as well as the sorrow sounding vocals to kick in the vibe even harder.

Pyramids really has more of a synthpop feel to it, an underlying electronic beat playing off for the most part. The guitars and all come back for the chorus. Different from the first two tracks by far, so that's a good thing. It provides variation.

Coven was a decent effort, though I felt the vocals weren't as in tune as they should've been. Off beat; they were nice on their own, but didn't really cooperate with the overall instrumentation. It was annoying to the ears. But, the music itself had a nice eighties ring to it, much like the previous tracks, and that was lovely.

I.O. 1987 had a very electronic feel to it and used that to its advantage. Club worthy for smooth dancing, and also good for home listening as a relaxing tune.

Prayer Lovers brought back in the guitars with a more somber feel to it. I do think this track needed to be better mastered or produced. Then again, I think the rest of the tracks on the album could've used a better touch.

Violently We Try was alright, using the band's intimacy with what they know to crank out another decent track. Wendy Darling followed up on that, same type of sound emanating, as did Red Letter Day. Though, this track did have a faster, more upbeat sound altogether to it.

Waves was slow, and the final track on the album. While I found a few of the previous tracks to dull out, this one left a new taste in my mouth and helped out tremendously. This was a good way to go out.

Now, the sound of this band isn't anything completely groundbreaking, nor do they tend to do anything really risky. But, they take an already established genre and toy with the mechanics while adding their own touches to it. I do think that the quality of the album suffers a bit here and there just through sound levels and the vocals often being slightly off from the music poured out from the tracks itself, but, still, it's decent. With better balancing, a few new tricks thrown in here and there, I think Astari Nite could turn out to be an even better act then they currently are. Aug 07 2014