The 'Lava' EP by Paradise of the Titans
Review
When reviewing Paradise of the Titans' music, one doesn't need usually to dive into the thesaurus as "cool" springs so readily to mind and is so accurate. And naturally I intend both uses of the adjective.
Alice Weston's live shows to date have reflected her records, within which she has led you through the ‘Labyrinth' and escorted you to the realm of the ‘Mermaid': so we are talking the evocation of subterranean & submarine worlds.
So her unique artistic identity is the cool and chilled then? Well if so, how on earth (or realistically given her interest, anywhere in the universe) can you reconcile that with her new EP being called ‘Lava'?
Well making your head spin and flipping expectations are wholly desirable attributes for a great artist so I applaud her for that on a purely conceptual level.
Beyond that big leap, there is a lot more going on here than merely exchanging low temperature environments for what you might assume to be a much hotter one.
In fact it might not actually be that hot as I'm not sure the action is taking place on a terrestrial volcano: we are talking about space travel again and out there different rules apply.
Factor in a "romantic cyborg and an enchanted sleepwalk" and suddenly you become aware that reality (whatever that may be) is being subverted again and that you are listening to whatever is going on in Alice's imagination. In fact we may all just be fantasies of hers I suppose.
So what do you get on ‘Lava'? Well I've just given the game away about the track "Sleepwalking", plus there is a title track (that would be "Lava" naturally) plus "Crypto Origami". And that's just the basis. You also get a cover of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park" while close collaborators Invitation to Love & Batsch provide remixes of "Sleepwalking" and "Crypto Origami" respectively.
Released on the Holy Crow label (check out our article from last month wherein Alien She tipped us off around the intricate web of connections involving local artists centred on this label), ‘Lava' is Alice taking us on Trips again. Some to outer space, some to the centre of our own heads. Possibly all go to both. It's that sort of record.
"Dream Pop" remains also the sort of record it is and it's hard to contemplate any sort of pleasant dream which might involve say walking on a pyroclastic flow (perhaps "Nightmare Pop" is a thing to cover that?) and if you study the video for the "Lava" track (it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSOK-mcQ4jY) then you'll see how Alice manages the concepts while delving " ..into supernatural characters via a vapour-wave aesthetic and Lynchian dance moves…"
Only that sort of mind could conceive of writing a song called "Crypto Origami" in the first place and then by presenting it to you (in two varieties to boot!) you get the double delight of figuring out both its meaning & how it fits into the Paradise of the Titans universe.
Interestingly, both remixes run less long than the parent track and it's tempting to suggest that in both cases the process has made the songs a touch brisker: I'd certainly say that the dynamic in each case is along the lines of Alice's mix leaning towards Dreaming and the reimagining to the Pop: though I could also say that also in each case, languid flow is broken up more with skittering Beats. A person could get lost in Alice's world but her collaborators seem to want to nudge us back in the general direction of reality from time to time.
To be honest, fans of her work could probably have felt that a song called "Sleepwalking" would fit into her canon very easily and who better to write a song with that title & do it justice? It may become a live signature piece & at the very least will be a key element in her setlists going forward. Gossamer in quality (especially in its original format), Alice plays gently with the aether and sees how light her touch can be & still produce a true song. She cites "inspiration from Kate Bush, Gary Numan and Grimes' early work" yet none of them, not even Kate wove webs quite this fine.
I suppose covering Gary Numan is totally plausible if you're inspired by him, but not only does Alice reimagine the sound & draw "Down in the Park" into her world, it's an intriguing subject area & one I don't readily associate with her own songs: the latter aren't dystopic (that my interpretation finds any way) and dealing with the fantastic, mythological and magical is quite a step with his fascination with the mechanical, the frightening & the lethal. I think you deserve not to have to wait for this review until I've figured that out, but for the time being the idea of Alice offering us paradoxes to play around with is admirable.
I am intrigued by Alice's creative process: her songs show so much interest in the subconscious that it tempts me to think that she uses her own as a key part of her methodology. Yet on the other hand, precise detailing is evident throughout… I leave you to conduct your own analysis on this matter pending her sharing any insights, though a bit of mystery in this area I think adds to the allure.
