The Absolute Elsewhere is the darkly exotic new work from British producer, vocalist and electronic innovator Riz Maslen. Oscillating with ease between the intimate and the operatic, the earthly and the ethereal, former Ntone artist and FSOL collaborator Maslen has created an otherworldly song sequence intoning a graceful path through beguiling and disturbing territory.
Steeped in ritual and mysticism, this is music of no fixed time nor place, the sound of implausible dreams and impossible nightmares. Recording for the first time in nine years as Neotropic, Riz has somehow alchemically melded psychedelic folk, post-techno and vocal virtuosity into a richly personal modern mythology quite unlike anything else out there.
The Absolute Elsewhere is the second in the Slowcraft Presents series created and curated by James Murray: exceptional, unclassifiable music offered in carefully handcrafted limited editions for people who treasure beautiful audio artefacts.
Selected Press:
“An otherworldly, dramatic record... feeling born more from a spectral entity than a human being.”
Claire Biddles, The Wire
www.thewire.co.uk/issues/416
"Her new album is high occult drama through and through, looking partly to the poetry of W. B. Yeats and the ambient cosmic theatre of Coil for inspiration, but finding a very individual expression indeed."
- Joes Muggs, Bandcamp
daily.bandcamp.com/2018/08/02/folktronica-list-past-present/
"a powerful collection that effectively matches the brief label curator James Murray devised for his Slowcraft Presents series: “exceptional, unclassifiable music offered in carefully handcrafted limited editions.”"
- Ron Schepper, textura.
textura.org/archives/n/neotropic_absolutenowhere.htm
“…what Maslen shows here is so overwhelmingly beautiful that it almost hurts; a cocktail of goose bumps, reflection, wonder, daydreaming, excitement and intense enjoyment. And every time you discover even more. This is the comeback of the year!”
- Jan Willem Broek, Subjectivisten
subjectivisten.nl/het-schaduwkabinet-week-31-2018/
"The Absolute Elsewhere is haunted. Its opening war-cry consists of an oily horn, soaked in sweat and copious amounts of blood, and it splits the sky. The pounding drum is a relentless slow-march, full of doom and imminent bombast, gathering like an army of the undead. Neotropic’s anti-war music seeps with a lingering rage, and her seething, unquiet melodies demand to be heard. Riz Maslen uses her voice to create a tense and full-blooded record that takes a stand against injustice and shrieks at the futility of war."
- James Catchpole, Fluid Radio
www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2018/07/the-absolute-elsewhere/
"For this beautifully presented hand crafted, hand stamped and numbered CD, Riz has created an otherworldly mix of sumptuous vocals, and exotic sounds of a post classical-neofolk... a quietly powerful, yet beautiful record, highly recommended."
- Andrew Young, Terrascope
www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Reviews_August_18.htm#neotropic
"Dall’”Ouverture” orchestrale all’invocazione sacrale di “Byzantium”, dalle allucinate sferzate elettroniche di “Nyolat” alle aperture liriche di “Your War” e di “Pleiades”, Riz Maslen tesse la trama di un itinerario d’ascolto avventuroso e disorientante, il cui filo conduttore è appunto quello di gravitare perennemente in un immaginario, mutevole altrove."
- Raffaello Russo, Music Won't Save You
musicwontsaveyou.com/2018/07/22/neotropic-the-absolute-elsewhere/
released July 20, 2018
Written and Produced by Riz Maslen
Wreckage of Dreams written by Riz Maslen and Shaun Gardiner
Byzantium lyrics by William Butler Yeats
Additional vocals on Byzantium by Oliver Cherer
Mastered by Bob Macciochi
Artwork by Riz Maslen
Design by James Murray
Published by Pink Lizard Music
neotropic.net
slowcraft.info