Chad VanGaalen and Astral Swans Announce 'Split' EP

Hear Astral Swans' new single "Shine the Light Inside" now

BY Alex HudsonPublished Sep 19, 2023

Adventurous Calgary songwriters Chad VanGaalen and Astral Swans (a.k.a. Matthew Swann) have worked together before, with VanGaalen once producing an album for Swann's prior project Extra Happy Ghost!!! Now they've teamed up once again, this time for a split EP simply titled Split. It's out October 23.

Split features three songs apiece from VanGaalen and Astral Swans. As a preview of the six-song collection, Swann has shared his song "Shine the Light Inside," featuring a noisy sax solo from Jairus Sharif.

In a statement, Swann explained that the new song came from a three-month artist residency when he stayed in a Calgary hotel, when he revisited the DIY approach of his early career. He explained in a statement, "I wanted to make something weird by myself, playing with bizarre sounds and structures. I used the cheapest MIDI controller I could find, one microphone, an interface for guitar and bass." The song is about a billionaire's rocket ship going off course.

Check out a visualizer for "Shine the Light Inside" below, and the Split tracklist below.


Split:

1. Chad VanGaalen - "Earth People"
2. Chad VanGaalen - "I'm Sick"
3. Chad VanGaalen - "Frogman" (feat. Alex Edkinds)
4. Astral Swans - "Shine the Light Inside" (feat. Jairus Sharif)
5. Astral Swans - "Same Old Story"
6. Astral Swans - "Filler"

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