Deastro brings positive vibes to Chicago

June 17, 2009, at the Double Door

By Genevieve Diesing
Published: June 20th, 2009 | 12:05pm

Randy Chabot hails from Detroit, home of Motown Records and once a nucleus of soul music. The historic city, which is now often associated with struggling times, seems like an unlikely place for Chabot and the imaginative, ecstatic synth pop melodies of his alter ego Deastro. But Detroit’s underground enclaves are where the artist has successfully carved a reputation for his superhero-fueled electronic symphonies that unapologetically resound with innocence.

Chabot radiates a certain purity and not just because he is, at the grand age of 22, relatively young. The child of two pastors seems convinced of something magical. Perhaps it is that quality that has made Deastro — a take on a G.I. Joe character’s name — sound so fantastical. His tracks are frenzied, electronic jewels inspired by recordings from his own life, with titles that could throw even Frank Zappa for a loop (“Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed in the Heart with the Moondagger by the King of Darkness and His Ghost Is Writing this Song,” is an example).

By the time Deastro and his band took the stage at Chicago’s Double Door, it was (suffice to say) well past his bedtime. That didn’t stop him from draping a Batman sheet over the front amps (superheroes are a running Deastro theme), as he brought his playful nature front and center. “Sometimes parents make out in front of you and it’s awkward,” he quipped after the first few songs. “Sometimes grandmothers exist, and it’s awesome.”

Although silly, there was a seriousness lurking underneath Deastro. With passionate cries, he spun fervently to the music like a preacher calling upon a higher power. In contrast, he began each track not with a strum of his guitar, but with a click of the mouse on the center stage, an increasing prop among most indie poppers with a Myspace account. But Deastro set himself apart from the pack with his unexpectedly sonorous voice, a characteristic that ground his otherworldly sound and brought it to life.

The performance sampled heavily from Deastro’s second full-length album, Moondagger (Ghostly International) and brought with it an energy that was more raw and fulfilling in person. Often doubling over with emotion, or reaching for the ceiling with fingers outstretched, Chabot poured out his tunes with infectious feeling. Sometimes it was dance-inducing and often whimsical, but the mood was always lighthearted, enlivening, and powerfully happy.

It’s hard to corner Deastro’s sound and categorize it. It contains the quirkiness of something Dan Deacon might spit out, but seems to reach for a deeper message. Although this elusive meaning may not be realized, Deastro is on to something. And, at 22, he’s headlining a movement of passionately gleefully music in none other than 21^st Century Motor City. The wisdom that comes with more experience might just empower the musician to reveal to the world what that magic he’s so convinced of really is: a good excuse as any for a third album.

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Deastro official site

Deastro MySpace page

Ghostly International Records