Originally conceived as a punk band until their third member moved away, Dunedin spaceship pop / shoegaze duo Astro Children's (Millie Lovelock and Isaac Hickey) debut record could have sounded entirely different. As it happens the childhood friends have created an adventurous and unique first album in Proteus.
After opening with the abstract wonder of ‘Sunday Afternoon’, Proteus then goes on to pendulum swing between the almost punk and almost pop. The former represented with tracks such as 'Eden' and 'Shoe' which feature Lovelock's confrontational vocals over a raw guitar and drum track and the latter illustrated on songs such as 'Big Muff (Strikes Again)' and 'Jamie Knows' which are driven by jangly, lo fi guitars and harmonious vocals.
The lo-fi sound dominates the record almost to a fault and the production is at times transparently thin but at the same time matched perfectly to the record's overall feel. Raw, spacey and at times brilliantly insane (Lovelock's repeated "Does it offend you?!" refrain throughout 'Nora Barnacle' is maniacally brilliant), Proteus could potentially be challenging for pop or punk purists but for those anywhere in between, this is a goldilocks moment of outer-world delight.
