Now, who doesn’t love a good old sci-fi concept album? With the Velvet Sea & The Afterglow, Astrels have created a dystopian, futuristic vision of Sheffield, which sits somewhere between Blade Runner and War Of The Worlds. Steve Edwards, a well-established Sheffield singer, and Joe Newman, the synth wizard from Reverend and the Makers, first worked together in Lockdown. It was a time when we all felt the world was heading somewhere we weren’t comfortable with, and this is reflected in the tone and feel of these tunes. Throw in some George Clinton’s Mothership vibe, plus a bit of prog and dub sounds, and you’re maybe halfway to knowing what sort of material they came up with. The Velvet Sea And The Afterglow is a collection of 10 songs as exciting as anything to come out of Sheffield in recent times. It is intended to be just the first instalment in a trilogy of albums, following the fate of our hero as he fights to survive, somewhere in the future, despite what aliens and Sheffield City Council, circa 2123, do to him. The songs are cinematic and ambitious to the point where it would provide the perfect soundtrack to a film that hasn’t actually been made yet (any takers?). Highlights are varied and plentiful, but if pressed I’d go for two tracks, ‘Starship Motherchild’ and ‘We Are Aliens’. They both show off Edwards’ vocal talents and how they fit perfectly with the futuristic synth sounds created by Newman. MP
