Dancing Alone by Elska

With its modern classical influences, and it’s extremely sensitively performed, and delicately nuanced tones, this absolutely beautiful new album from composer/vocalist Elska (Laura Boland) is a distinctly pleasant departure from some of our more recent, darker releases. Her softly subdued and breathy vocalizations lend themselves perfectly to the mysterious and elegiac eleven melodies that comprise the album. Throughout this record she takes us on a nostalgic and at times ethereal voyage through a world where the beauty walks hand in hand with an at times somewhat disjointed and yet seemingly completely natural strangeness. With occasional pseudo liturgical impressions, and a wonderful use of field recordings, strings, chimes and other instrumentation, she achieves a real and grandiose grasp on what it means to live, love and breathe through ones music.

TRS112 comes in a limited physical edition of just 50 copies. For this album we have strayed a bit from our usual distressed design aesthetic, and come up with what we feel is a more appropriately stark and “clean” package. For the handmade jackets, we used sheets of 6-ply, 25” x 28” Mat board, and hand cut, creased and folded it into a multi dimensional pocketed sleeve. Mounted to the front, and partially obscured by a rounded front flap, is an enlarged and archival printed, 12” square, double exposure image of the artist herself. For this project Boland created 50 unique “Polaroid stories”: 50 prints accompanied by 50 short poetic text. Each print is attached by corner mounts to the back of the jacket, with each text hand typed on a vintage cursive typewriter. Below this is a unique vintage, “fingerprint card”. Inside the jacket is an original 9”x11”analogue collage, with materials sourced from two books: a book of “A-C Ohm Calculation Charts”, and a book about teaching children modern dance. The two seemed to go hand in hand in this respect! The artists name and album title are hand stamped on the front, and there is an included hand-printed credit sheet as well, and all copies are hand numbered on the back. The entire package then comes wrapped with a sewn, vintage, lace obi strip! The full length, clear, lathe cut record, is made as usual by Bladud Flies!, in Wales, UK.

Tracklist

1.	Innigkeit	4:07

2.	Anna	3:28

3.	sa-molan	2:55

4.	Mångata	3:32

5.	Figura	3:02

6.	Tesori	2:10

7.	Ceremonia	5:11

8.	New World	4:20

9.	Sopirò	3:51

10.	Moonstorms	3:17

11.	Poema	2:23

Videos

Credits

released July 5, 2024

Elska is the narrator of cinematic lullabies and the creation of Composer Laura Boland. She represents love, imagination, resilience & awareness.

Her vignettes are comprised of moments that explore the human condition and our spiritual migrations in the context of our ever-changing environment. Elska’s introspective songs waltz through the darkest corridors of our yesterdays; excavating memories and uniting us with our shadows to uncover a reverberating love inside our heart’s distorted beats. Evocative orchestrations of ghostly soundscapes and nostalgic synth textures decorate this dusty, internal terrain and accompany her ethereal vocal narrations.

Elska first emerged in Brooklyn, New York in 2018. She currently resides in Kansas City, MO.

Composed, recorded and mixed by Laura Boland in Kansas City, MO.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson in San Francisco, CA.
Polaroids by Laura Boland, Alex Alexander and Peter Rad.
Polaroid stories by Laura Boland

Thanks to friends and family near and far for support and inspiration.
Extra thanks to Colin and Maria at Time Released Sound, Jessica T., Alex A., David S., and Peter R.

Artwork/Design by Colin Herrick and Maria Chenut
Lathe Cut Records by Bladud Flies!, in Wales, UK

Time Released Sound 2024

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