A Strangely Isolated Place (ASIP): Releases

ASIP Releases (Previews)

"When the gate of clouds opens wide, rain starts falling on the inner lands. And an harmony of choirs and voices lifts up, like children, a pure melody of oscillating bells plays inside us. Intensely. Airy. Ethereal. Nature awakening. Deeply immersed in silences and noises." 

All tracks written and produced by Pasquale Riviezzo 

Artwork photo titled "la città che muore" by Bruno _pek_ asip.me/1g3IWBR

Download on Bandcamp

ASIP029 Halo - Cloud Gate

"A sequence of places. Indefinite. A continuous flow of emotions that paints a landscape in the air. Here are new colors, new notes. And new atmospheres. It’s all about atmosphere. Intimate. And I cannot define boundaries, or limits. So wide, but so real. Like the fields that unfold while we’re moving, our travel. And they are reflected in our eyes like morning dew in a mirror".

All tracks written and produced by Pasquale Riviezzo 

Artwork photo titled "la città che muore" by Bruno _pek_ asip.me/1g3IWBR

ASIP029 Halo - The Inner Realm

"Departure is how the act of moving from one place to another begins. This is a station of passage, an abandoned station you see through the window while you’re travelling to another town. It’s an isolated place, vanishing in the mist, where few voices are heard and a train is passing by. All is immersed in the ambience of a particular Autumn day; a soft rain starts pouring down while all our feelings are flowing freely."

All tracks written and produced by Pasquale Riviezzo 

Artwork photo titled "la città che muore" by Bruno _pek_ asip.me/1g3IWBR

ASIP029 Halo - An Isolated Railway

At just 22 years of age, Italian prodigy Pasquale Riviezzo is one of the most promising talents we’re yet to feature in The Places Series. Playing the piano for over eleven years and the guitar for over six, you may know Pasquale from his lush ambient productions on Dewtone from 2012. But it’s here, amongst detailed field recordings, emotional scores and vivid instrumental journeys that Halo really shines as a talented composer.

His Places Series EP, titled ‘Song Of The Highest Tower’ captures what he describes as, “something very intimate and close to the artist’s personality and subjectivity” – something “incidental to the artist’s mind” or what some of us may simply call, creative expression. And as most us know, there’s no better way to bring this to life than a combination of enigmatic strings, poignant melodies and a heart-felt back story.

We’ve all experienced those moments when we capture a perfect image in our minds eye; those indelible scenes we can recall with perfect clarity. These snapshots might last a lifetime or disappear as quickly as they were realized but in that split-second, for composer Pasquale Riviezzo, it’s a preservation of a very personal kind.

“I usually travel from Milan to Naples for my university studies. These are images of places that I saw in a misty morning while I was on the train, that were fixed in my heart for a moment, mixed with flowing feelings and thoughts. They maybe became different places after that, but this is a story I’d like to tell you, through notes. It’s how a common place becomes intimate, and then a strangely isolated place.”

Inspired by transit and transcendence, misty mornings and fleeting connection, Pasquale’s EP is a collection that’s characterized by weighty piano chords, ethereal atmospheres and measured use of string to give tracks a melancholic focus. It allows ‘An Isolated Railway’ to drift along measured string and gentle piano, ‘Cloud Gate’ to swell with the soft vision of rolling Cumulus and the heavens opening, and the maudlin melody of ‘The Inner Realm’ to breathe through the dead space and atmosphere.

‘An Isolated Railway is the abandoned station you see through the window while you’re travelling to another town,” Pasquale explains. “It’s an isolated place, vanishing in the mist, where few voices are heard and a train is passing by, and The Inner Realm is am indefinite sequence of places, a continuous flow of emotions that paints a landscape in the air.”

‘Cloud Gate’ is when the gate of clouds opens wide and the rain starts falling and I’ll listen to ‘The Wastelands’ with closed eyes and see sounds painting a landscape in the imaginary space. I called that place ‘The Wastelands’ because it feels like a distant landscape brought back for a just moment, then, just like a dream, at the end you open your eyes and there’s no trace left. Just a subtle sensation of having been there, somewhere, sometime.”

More info asip.me/ASIP029
________________________________
Composed, Recorded and Mastered by Pasquale Riviezzo
<a href="http://facebook.com/halosphere">Fb</a> - <a href="http:/twitter.com/halotwtr">Twitter</a>


Song of the Highest Tower

Download

Halo - 5.Song Of The Highest Tower

More info: https://asip.me/asip042

A Strangely Isolated Place proudly presents Mirror EP, the first label release from Hungarian electronic artist https://soundcloud.com/swanasa (A. Abigél Bánházi). Following her 2023 debut, When You Need to Rest, Let the Sounds Hold You, released on Budapest’s EXILES, Abigél’s Mirror EP serves as a captivating follow-up and a purposeful first introduction to the world of ASIP, showcasing her ability to bridge experimental sound design with hypnotic, meditative drones.

~

“We begin at the edge, the Sad Sea, where the waves mirror our emotions, a boundary between the conscious and the deep unknown. As we dive, the waters grow wild, swirling in the chaos of our unconscious. But through the storm, we start to see the patterns—guided by the wolf, the soul’s escort through the shadows.

Deeper still, silence falls. In this quiet, the voices of whales, and dolphins become our companions, leading us toward truth. The water washes away the darkness, and in that stillness, the swan rises—a symbol of transformation, of wisdom found.”

~

Mirror EP encompasses a diverse range of textures, from deeply immersive soundscapes to intricate rhythmic elements, reflecting swanasa's dedication to pushing the boundaries of ambient music, informed by the interplay of folk culture, Jungian psychology, and digital experimentation. Each composition is a seamless blend of synthetic and organic sounds, influenced by her connection to nature, creating an evocative experience that resonates with themes of ecological awareness and modern technology’s role in artistic expression.

Featuring rhythmic chanting and layered vocal samples that invoke a sense of ritual and deep introspection, washes of abstract sounds manipulated from the recordings of wolves, and mystical sounds straight from nature’s own. The EPs tracks highlight swanasa's exploration of sound as a symbolic language, inviting listeners into a world where the lines between reality and imagination blur.

swanasa's music is brought to life through her live performances, where Mirror EP and her previous material form the foundation for dynamic, meditative sets. Having performed alongside artists such as Abul Mogard, swanasa’s live shows emphasize deep listening and immersive sound environments, drawing audiences into her unique sonic world.

Mirror EP will be released on November 22nd, 2024, available as a digital download, mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Black Knoll Studio, New York. The artwork, an original texture created by Zsuzsi Palman, continues the theme from Abigél’s first EP.

ASIP042 swanasa - Mirror

swanasa / Immersion

swanasa / Sad Sea

A Strangely Isolated Place presents a long-lost collaboration between Polish artists Olga Wojciechowska and Tomasz Walkiewicz as Monoparts—a partnership formed many years ago that resulted in an album once destined to remain unreleased.

Olga Wojciechowska, known for her modern-classical masterpieces such as Infinite Distances (2019) and Unseen Traces (2020), as well as her 2022 collaboration with Scanner, breaks all known expectations with Soothsayers. In a dramatic departure, Olga unveils a new and unexpected side, debuting her haunting vocals—a delicate, spellbinding performance that recalls the golden era of trip-hop, and comparisons to the sounds pioneered by Tricky, Massive Attack, and Martina Topley-Bird.

With Tomasz adding layers of depth through intricate beats and electronics, Olga’s voice becomes the emotional core of the record, conjuring an intimate and nostalgic atmosphere.

"This album is like becoming one with the earth itself—feeling the rawness of the wood, tasting the earth in your mouth, and sensing the presence of ancient spirits. The music carries a deep, primal energy, like being part of the forest, with creatures watching you from the shadows." - Olga Wojciechowska

To complete the journey, ASC lends his signature touch with a stunning drum’n’bass reinterpretation, amplifying the album’s nostalgic essence. Soothsayers emerges as a spellbinding ode to times gone by, in more ways than one.

Featuring artwork by Moon Patrol, with mastering and lacquer by Andreas LUPO Lubich, Soothsayers will be available on 12” maroon smoke-colored vinyl and Bandcamp on February 28th.

Monoparts / Soothsayers (ASIPV052) [Previews]

Following https://soundcloud.com/mikkel-rev's debut album on the label in 2023, ‘The Art Of Levitation’, the Norwegian artist returns with Journey Beyond, a selection of tracks demonstrating his innate ability to conjure the most atmospheric trance music, irrespective of BPM.

Journey Beyond was created from an extensive set of tracks sent to the label that were initially sequenced as two shorter EPs. With the first offering a slower 80bpm trance style, and the second EP, a classic ~130bpm trance style. However, over time, with tracks swapping in and out, ASIP had the idea to create a mixed version, progressing through the tracks and increasing bpm's, showcasing Mikkel’s ability in bridging euphoric worlds - and a style that is often reserved for Mikkel’s live performances amongst the forest raves held as part of the Ute Collective in Norway.

Classic trance and the art of a DJ mix have been influential to ASIP since the label’s inception, making this release and the process of creating it a true reflection of how Mikkel and the label come together to define the end output.

Featuring artwork by Ventral Is Golden and mastered by James Bernard.

Mikkel Rev / Journey Beyond (Mixed by ASIP) [ASIP043]

KILN https://soundcloud.com/kiln return with an opulent new display of hue and swing on Lemon Borealis, a sumptuous gallery of dazzling motifs that display a finely hewn concoction of visual tones and vital pulse.

Across its 12 cuts, this collection utilizes a fresh process of condensing immersive sprawl into compact, punchy and colorful sound. Using aspects of live performance, beatmaking and waveform sculpting, the troika of Kevin Hayes, Kirk Marrison and Clark Rehberg III create evocative and invigorating dioramas, continuing to surprise and enchant listeners after over thirty years into their collaboration.

Deep in waves of Hi-meets-Lo Fi, KILN delivers a panchromatic daymark arranged to biochemically align and stimulate your personal syntax, forging a tapestry of sonic reveries ranging from the aquarium-on-fire radiance of DrnkGrlfrnd, a garden groove of field-recorded percussion in Maplefunk Diptych, to the sizzling guit-noise whiteout of Deacon Rayhand.

Their eighth album, and first for A Strangely Isolated Place, on Lemon Borealis, KILN expands upon the long-explored themes of mosaic texture, subtle melancholy, eroded consonance, and vivid cadence to reveal yet another aperture to their unique magnetic universe.

Lemon Borealis will be available on 12” Transparent Yellow/Ochre Smoke vinyl and digital on July 18th. Lacquer cut by Andreas Lupo Lubich, and featuring artwork by KILN.

KILN / Lemon Borealis (ASIPV053) [PREVIEWS]

A little ambient piece I wrote yesterday afternoon.. Sorry not to have so much time for composing music until July, but I really wanted to share something with you in a little free time from my studying.

I always thought of ambient music as a way to effectively depict soundscapes with notes and musical colors (frequencies, tones, silences).

I’ll listen to this with closed eyes and I’ll see sounds painting a landscape in the imaginary space. Like emerging from the deepness of your thoughts, and sorrounding you with its presence, because it's you who has been creating it. Music conceals places in its notes.

I called that place "The wastelands", a distant landscape brought back to our time for a little moment, as it were while the wind blew in the cloudy sky and the sun set over the horizon of the open fields.

Just like a dream, at the end you open your eyes and there's no trace left, if not a subtle sensation of having been there, somewhere, sometime...

http://haloproject.co.uk
http://facebook.com/halosphere
http://twitter.com/halotwtr

Halo - 3.The Wastelands

Music from A Strangely Isolated Place + 9128.live.

Ambient & electronica music blog, mix series, record label and radio station. Est. 2008.

swanasa / Immersion

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