Aural Aggravation

Philadelphia-based art-rock duo Tulipomania are back with ‘I’ve Been Told – Absolution’, the first offering from their sixth album Absolution, inspired by an invitation from acclaimed author Jeff VanderMeer to contribute music as part of the publication of his latest novel Absolution, the surprise fourth volume in his award-winning ‘Southern Reach’ series.

With a pressingly mournful urgency, this soundscape resonates with the complex energies enveloping VanderMeer’s novel, the author having invited the duo to create music inspired by ‘Absolution’ while still a work in progress. Hearing that VanderMeer took inspiration for the ‘Absolution’ novel from their Dreaming of Sleep album, the duo enthusiastically accepted the challenge.

Alternately categorized as cult synth punks, glam-leaning, post-punk, art-rock and muscular chamber pop, Tulipomania is Tom Murray (lead vocals, synthesizer, electronic percussion) and Cheryl Gelover (synthesizer, background vocals) – they first began their collaboration through projects for experimental film and animation classes. Tulipomania evolved from those experiences. Their new Absolution album includes four new tracks inspired by VanderMeer’s new novel, plus ten alternate versions of the songs that originally sparked VanderMeer’s interest, reimagined as a cohesive sonic experience.

It’s an exciting development for the duo to be involved in this new chapter of the Southern Reach Trilogy with Absolution being the brilliant, beautiful and terrifying final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time. An instant sensation, it has been celebrated by the New York Times, Stephen King and many others. With each volume climbing the bestsellers list, accruing awards, it was ultimately adapted in a movie – now a cult classic. The trilogy has now sold more than a million copies, securing its place in the pantheon of 21st century literature.

In the liner notes to the album, VanderMeer lends insight into his creative process: “I remember being in the middle of the ecstatic visions that formed my novel Absolution and discovering Tulipomania’s music for the first time, around August of 2023 – this very album’s doppelganger, in fact. The original mix of ‘Dreaming of Sleep’. It felt like a revelation – hypnotic, pulsing music that got deep hooks into my brain, so I couldn’t stop listening to the songs. Like a lighthouse’s roving light, the songs felt like a beacon, and the recursive nature of the composition, the sense of a beating heart, a thick muscle at the core of them, combined with the surreal lyrics got deep into the novel’s DNA. … So I was really pleased that this opportunity for this wonderful contamination of (novel / album) to go the other way – the Absolution remix of ‘Dreaming of Sleep’, with four new Absolution tracks! I really love this band so much – to the point I’ve listened to and recommend their entire back catalogue – that it’s an honor.”

On Absolution, Tulipomania is immersed fully in electronic means of creation – the exception being a sole accent played on electric guitar on the last track. This record involves Executive Producer Howard Thompson, renowned as a record industry executive (Elektra, Island, Almo Sounds), credited for having discovered and / or worked with Adam and the Ants, Billy Bragg, MC5, Mötorhead, PiL, Psychedelic Furs, Robyn Hitchcock, The Sugarcubes and Suicide, among others.

AA