Ash – Ad Astra – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Ash are back with their ninth album, two years after the excellent Race The Night.  It seems like every second album of theirs is a good one, so after Race the Night we were expecting a dip in quality.

After starting with the almost pompous opening Zarathustra the album starts properly with Which One Do You Want? – a jangle pop masterclass with shades of Johnny Marr and Tim Wheeler’s ageless vocals over it.  After this?  It’s a mixed bag.  Graham Coxon plays guitar on a couple of songs: Fun People is a proper heavy pop song but the tune is a little throwaway, Coxon also chips in on the title track later on.

Hallion is a kind of colloquial rocker with a load of northern slang: (“you gawkin’ at, scundered, class”) and that and the band barrel through the track, and is so good-natured you can’t help but ‘woah woah’ along “she’s a wee hallion she’ll take on a battalion”.  Deadly Love is a breezy yet lengthy tune at six minutes, and is probably the most modern-sounding thing here.  They also try their hand at an acoustic ballad, My Favourite Ghost, which features strings of a different hue, ie the non-six string variety.

The low point on the album is Jump In The Line, which I believe is a Harry Belafonte cover.  It’s designed to jump around to but it’s terribly cheesy with its “shake shake shake senora” refrain.  Later, Keep Dreaming and Ghosting are uplifting, amiable guitar pop, while Dehumanised is a decent rocker.  But none are that memorable.

Ash were never the most cerebral of bands but the album feels a bit throwaway.  Some of the songs do grow on you in time but it’s not really good enough.  But based on our findings earlier, the next one will be great!

Which One Do You Want