ROCKWiRED MAGAZiNE iNTERViEWS ALPHANAUT

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

BACK FROM SPACE

MARK ALAN OF ALPHANAUT TALKS TO ROCKWiRED

ABOUT THE ALBUM OUT OF ORBiT

HiS FONDNESS FOR ELECTRONiCS

AND RETURNiNG TO MUSiC ON HiS TERMS

iNTERViEWED BY BRiAN LUSH
The musical journey of MARK ALAN - and his project dubbed ALPHANAUT - seems similar to the story of the missing-in-action protagonist from DAVID BOWIE’s ‘SPACE ODDITY’ – MAJOR TOM. The countdown commenced for ALAN around the late-eighties and early-nineties. ALAN cut his teeth in a couple of bands in his hometown of Seattle before moving to Los Angeles where he fronted the band NOVEMBER, whose spacey guitar and keyboard sound ran contrary to the grunge that echoed across the country from his hometown. Upon growing disillusion with his bands inability to make a dent in a music landscape that was then marked by prescribed anger and flannel, ALAN stepped away from music and made a living importing artwork. His love for music seemed as if it was hopelessly lost in the blackness of space. That was the case until 2007 when ALAN heard melodies in his head that had to be scribbled down. Those scribblings would later become ALAN’s second chance at making music on his own terms in an environment more accepting of electronic ambience thanks to bands like COLDPLAY and THE KILLERS. Under the name ALPHANAUT, ALAN seamlessly combines haunting electronics wit the warmth of acoustic instrumentation. Listeners were first acquainted with the ALPHANAUT sound on the 2009 EP ‘THE LUNAR AGE. Now ALPHANAUT is back with the full length album ‘OUT OF ORBIT’. (READ MORE)