Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all safe and sound, and that you’re taking a good care of yourselves, both physically and mentally. These are tough times, filled with fear of what the future might bring us, of how our lives will change, because they surely will. But I also believe that together we can cope with everything.

I’m thinking that Lunatic Soul fans deserve to finally receive some news. I haven’t posted anything here for quite a while and I hope you can forgive me for that. Let me start by saying ‘thank you’ for supporting my new project, which is individual songs released under “Mariusz Duda”. But don’t be deceived by “The Song of the Dying Memory”, my “subcutaneous songs” will come in different shapes and forms :)

A month ago, I started up a new internet website, mariuszduda.md, where I gathered and graphically organised all the musical endeavours I have taken part in, leaving free spaces for future plans. In the Lunatic Soul section, there are two empty slots. One of them is for this year’s album, which will be released in the autumn of 2020.

Many of you already know that I have been working on the seventh Lunatic Soul release. There have been occasional news from the studio, some short clips, pictures from a forest ;) and bits of information in various interviews. I must say it wasn’t easy to find sufficient time during the intense “Wasteland tour” with Riverside, but, somehow, 75% of the new Lunatic Soul album is ready.

These days I’m finishing working on the lyrics. The final recordings, vocals and overdubs, will be planned in May and June, and the seventh Lunatic Soul album will be released in October.

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Lunatic Soul has its cycle, and all the albums have their timeline (let me refer you again to mariuszduda.md). The seventh album will be a musical continuation of the black and white albums, the third release “on the side of death”, and the “opposite” album to “Walking on a Flashlight Beam”, where there was a transition from life to death. Here, we will have a transition from death to life. I know it may all sound a little complicated and I promise to explain it all better one day, in a visual form ;)

What’s important and what I can already share with you is that:

– it will be a dark folk, organic, Slavic-Scandinavian album. Exactly what you have always expected from Lunatic Soul :)
– the colour palette of the album and its cover will be connected with… a dark forest :)
– there will be 6 tracks on the album, about 40 minutes in total.
– there will also be a double disc edition with additional… 40 minutes of music, mainly instrumental, including a 26-minute suite called “Transition 2”. That gives us nearly 80 minutes of new material.

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I think before the summer arrives, I will reveal more information, both audio and visual, about this release. It will be a melodious, dense and coherent album. Very close to nature and to my heart. I come from the Masurian land of forests and lakes, that’s where I was born, that’s where I grew up, and thus “sylvan and Slavic moods” have always been and will remain a part of my life.

I don’t know yet what will happen with this year’s concerts of Riverside but I can promise you now that in the autumn of this year you can expect the new Lunatic Soul release.
I hope that it will bring you a lot of intense emotions and perhaps make going through this incredibly difficult time at least a little bit more bearable.

Be well!
MD

Before I know it, January 2020 has almost ended and I promised myself and you that I would share some reflections for 2020. Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio, which wasn’t easy because Riverside are touring like crazy, but, against all odds, I managed to find some time for thinking through and recording some new ideas.

As you will remember, when I was 33, I started a music project. On a whim. Out of necessity. Lunatic Soul has done pretty well because I managed to create music which is different from what I do in Riverside.

Recently, I turned 44, so I think it’s high time for another music world.

One might ask, why do I need another solo project if I have Lunatic Soul? Well. And why did I need Lunatic Soul if I had Riverside? You might not know it but the artists who have not fulfilled their desires, dreams and ambitions are the most frustrated people out there. Some of them end up really badly – for instance, as journalists. So if one has a chance to fulfil one’s plans on multiple levels, then, as long as one’s wellbeing and climate changes allow, one should enjoy the possibilities. This time, however, I’m not going to play with any nicknames and I’ll simply sign my work with my own name and surname.

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I am most of all a creator of complete entities, at least that’s how I feel. I make albums, recordings, I tell stories. I always begin with a title, a cover, a colour, and then I fill that framework with sounds composed alone or with the help of my friends. That’s how it works in Riverside, that’s how it works in Lunatic Soul. When I’m making music, I want the listener to feel as if they are watching a film at the cinema. Experiencing something that has a beginning, a twist, a climax, and an ending.

Well… in the case of “MD” it’s not going to be this way.

At least not yet.

First of all, I don’t want to rain on my own parade, and secondly, I would simply like to try something new.

I’ve decided that as “Mariusz Duda” I will release only singles, individual songs recorded with the help of my friends and colleagues. From time to time, in between R and LS. Of course, there will come a time when I will put them all together, add twice as many and release them on an album. But until then, I’ll be showing what’s possibly my greatest strength: being a songwriter. Therefore, the songs will be centered around vocals, acoustic guitars and piano, that is what I started from.

Riverside is a typical rock band which, no matter how much I keep denying it and making fun of it, will always be marked with the stamp of “progressive rock”. And so let’s have long tracks, elaborate guitar solos, concept albums and the like. Naturally, there will still be some experimenting, but.. some things simply cannot be changed. Lunatic Soul is my love for ambient, darkness, folk and electronics. It’s a strange style but let’s allow the strangeness to grow and develop. “Mariusz Duda” will, in turn, play songs. Those, that have always worked out best for him. Those that sound pretty and go under your skin. And so each of the music worlds will have its character, its law and order. Soon, there will be a website where I will put all my music endeavours to date in one place. It might help some of you, but mostly myself, wrap my head around how it’s all developed over the years.

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And in mid March I will share with you the first song.

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Finally, let me say a few things about the new plans for Riverside and Lunatic Soul. Thinking about the future solo “MD” songs has allowed me to look more objectively at what has been happening with Riverside and Lunatic Soul. Two separate worlds have come dangerously close together. “A Thousand Shards of Heaven” or “Untamed” could easily be Riverside songs. “Wasteland” is, in turn, really saturated with the essence of Lunatic Soul. And although it turned out fine, I know that I will have to keep both worlds furhter apart for the respective future releases.

That’s why the new Lunatic Soul is turning back towards the first two albums and it will be more folk than ever before, and Riverside will go back to playing the kind of music you know from the first four releases, but in a refreshed form forged in the last decade.

I have spoken.

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It seemed to me some time ago that I have already experienced the best in life, but now I fee that everything is only about to begin. I’m really glad that in these difficult and troubled times I can still count on your trust and support. Thank you for being there. Thank you for letting me be who I want to be.

With warmest regards,
MD

***

photo by Nicole Shade

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a picture taken in a forest. A picture of me, hooded, among trees. Because forests, just like lakes, are my natural habitat. Perhaps not everyone knows about it, but I come from a small town – Węgorzewo in the Masurian Lakeland, and that town is surrounded mainly by forests and lakes. That is where I grew up and spent a large (still the largest, in fact) part of my life. That is, until I packed my bags and moved to Warsaw.

And so the forest will be my inspiration for the next Lunatic colour. After blue and red, it’s time for green. It is my pleasure to announce that soon I will enter the studio to work on the seventh Lunatic Soul album. It will be very organic and folky this time, but, naturally, “in my way”. I’ve just finished the demo and at the end of the month I’m starting the recording sessions. (Somewhere between Riverside concerts). What will come out of it – we’ll see.

I remain lunatically yours and I promise to reveal more information soon.

Good news for everybody who would like to complete the LS discography on CD.

Lunatic Soul “Impressions”, which has been unavailable for a long time, will be reissued on CD in April 2019 at a competitive price. The album is already available on preorder.

PREORDER