Lunatic Soul, the Polish progressive rock outfit created by Riverside’s main composer and vocalist/bassist Mariusz Duda, has announced signing a new deal with InsideOutMusic for the release of their upcoming eighth studio album due later this year.
A first new single entitled ‘The World Under Unsun’ – recorded, mixed and mastered by Duda and Robert Srzedniccy at Serakos Studio, Warsaw, Poland – has just been released today and can be streamed here with a video you can check out here at RAMzine.
Commenting on the single, Duda said: “This is how the new Lunatic Soul album will begin. Precisely with these sounds. The track ‘The World Under Unsun’ is a kind of opening credits to a long, 90-minute musical film that will be released this autumn. This film is the eighth Lunatic Soul album. On the timeline of the story, it is set between Fractured and Walking On A Flashlight Beam. Darkness and melancholy return to my music – this time bathed in the black-and-gold light of an eclipsed sun. I’ve recorded an epic, long, and highly diverse album – the first double album in my career. I didn’t want to present fragments torn from context. I simply wanted to share how this journey begins. I hope you enjoy the track and that you’ll join me on this long journey in the autumn”.
Speaking about signing to InsideOutMusic, he continued: “I would like to sincerely thank my friends at InsideOutMusic for their trust and for welcoming Lunatic Soul under their wings. I hope this opens a few more doors to deeper discovery of this solo effort – where I always seem to wander in some strange black hood. I also hope my solo music adds something intriguing and meaningful to the label’s catalogue of sounds.”
Lunatic Soul acts as a solo outfit for Duda. Launched in 2008, as a separate outlet from Riverside, where he could create something different and uncompromising.
While the artist doesn’t reject the label of progressive rock, he believes that “Lunatic Soul gives me more room for musical originality than Riverside.” For this reason, he doesn’t like Lunatic Soul being referred to as a side project. “To me, there’s nothing secondary about Lunatic Soul. Musically and conceptually, it’s an equally important musical world – if not more important. Here, I can do literally anything.”
Lunatic Soul is inspired by artists such as Dead Can Dance, Peter Gabriel (especially his Passion album), Mike Oldfield, Clannad, Hedningarna and Depeche Mode. It’s an attempt to blend ambient music and electronic music with folk and rock influences. Duda plays almost all the instruments himself, with occasional guest appearances from invited musicians.
The upcoming eighth album will be released later in 2025 via Inside Out Music internationally and Mystic Production in Poland. All eight albums form what is known as the “The Circle of Life and Death”, a cohesive story in which a solitary artist-traveller journeys between life and death.
