Tulipomania – A Full Electronic Immersion
Philadelphia duo Tulipomania present the single ‘Never Knew’, along with a clever animated music video in support of their sixth album ‘Absolution’.
It was inspired by an invitation from acclaimed author Jeff VanderMeer to contribute music as part of the publication of ‘Absolution’, the surprise fourth volume in his award-winning ‘Southern Reach’ series.
The bestselling author had invited the duo to create music inspired by ‘Absolution’ while his novel was still a work in progress. As VanderMeer took inspiration for the ‘Absolution’ novel from their ‘Dreaming of Sleep’ album, the duo enthusiastically accepted the challenge. This journey began with the album’s first single ‘I’ve Been Told – Absolution’.
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), who first collaborated through projects for experimental film and animation classes. Tulipomania evolved from those experiences.
Secrecy, trust and betrayal drive the elusive musings voiced in ‘Never Knew’, perfectly placing it within Tulipomania’s album soundscape resonating with the complex energies enveloping Jeff VanderMeer’s novel ‘Absolution’. Sharing themes of existential dread with VanderMeer’s novel, equally unafraid to excavate the darkest of human impulses when confronted with the unknown ‘Never Knew’ presents partial glimpses of a fractured narrative, questioning the possibility of piecing together a complete truth.
The animation is a viscerally distorted visual doppelganger. Mirroring the process of influencing / being influenced – the text of the novel was mined, then mutated, distorted and transformed to create something new. Animation techniques involved the assembly of collaged imagery directly on highlighted, erased and often torn pages of the novel, shot in frame by frame stop-motion. Multiple copies of the novel were purchased then destroyed in the process of creating the animation.
“This animation was a total immersion into the unusual process of reciprocal influence we found ourselves participating in with Jeff VanderMeer. It’s enormously flattering to have another artist cite your work as an inspiration – and then, surprisingly generous to have them reach out and offer a chance to respond to their work. We never would have expected anyone to take such a deep dive into articulating how our music affected their creative process – Jeff’s liner notes are such a fantastic response to our album ‘Absolution’ – we were honored he asked us to keep the dialogue going and sent us early drafts of the novel ‘Absolution’. Animation is so time consuming – it had better be a labor of love – you’re building a mood by creating 24 images for each second of screen time. We decided to start with the physical novel,” says Tom Murray.
We took visual cues from Jeff, who previewed Absolution’s release by sharing images of the novel in various states of destruction. His followers could see the book submerged in laboratory jars filled with liquid like a specimen, washed up on a beach, burnt to cinders or torn to shreds. Every time there was a new post you’d wonder how the book would be destroyed…”
Described as ‘artistic and inventive’ and ‘gorgeous’, Tulipomania’s animated music videos have been featured in film festivals worldwide, including the Leeds International Film Festival (UK), StopTrik (Croatia, Poland), AniFilm (Czech Republic), Tallgrass International Film Festival (USA) and Cinequest (USA).
Cheryl Gelover adds, “We ended up purchasing many copies of ‘Absolution’ and we weren’t bothered when one arrived with a really bent up front cover – because we knew we’d be inflicting much worse damage to it! We tore the books up completely, searching for the lyrics to ‘Never Knew’. We also highlighted them in Day-Glo yellow, orange and pink, taped sequential images directly over the text and cut shapes into layers of the pages as we created collages to set in motion. Strangely, all the while we were animating, the text itself was still enticing… I’d get lost in fragments of the narrative. I want to say we just loved ‘Absolution’ to death – except, just like the most disturbing scenes of the book, it didn’t really die – it was transformed into something else entirely.”
VanderMeer contributed liner notes to the new album, which peer into his creative process as prompted by their music. He had invited Tulipomania to create new music for his much lauded Area X series while it was a work in progress. Hearing that VanderMeer’s writing of this novel took inspiration from their music, they enthusiastically accepted the challenge. Their new album includes four new tracks inspired by the novel, plus alternate versions of the songs that originally sparked VanderMeer’s interest – reimagined as a cohesive sonic experience in response to the decades-long Southern Reach saga.
Tulipomania once again immerse themselves fully in electronic means of creation – the exception being a sole accent played on electric guitar on the last track. Featuring cover artwork by acclaimed multi-talented artist/designer Pablo Delcan, who created artwork for the tenth anniversary editions of the Southern Reach series, this record involves Executive Producer Howard Thompson, renowned for his contributions as a record industry executive (Elektra, Island, Almo Sounds) and known 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.
‘Never Knew’ and the full ‘Absolution’ album is out now, available on CD and vinyl via Sursumcorda Records and digitally, including via Bandcamp, Spotifyand Apple Music.
TRACK LIST
01. You Had to Be There (Absolution Mix)
02. And Then (Absolution Mix)
03. Strange
04. From DC to Daylight (Absolution Mix)
05. Something Else
06. Fades Away (Absolution Mix)
07. Never Knew
08. I’ve Been Told (Absolution)
09. Shines On (Absolution Mix)
10. Time Will Tell (Absolution Mix)
11. Then and Only Then (Absolution Mix)
12. Blank – Gone It’s Gone (Absolution Mix)
13. It’s About Time (Absolution Mix)
14. Do You Remember (Absolution Mix)
CREDITS
Cheryl Gelover – keyboards and vocals
Tom Murray – bass, drums, keyboards and lead vocals
with additional keyboards by Richard Hartline
Produced and recorded by Tulipomania & Richard Hartline
Mixed and Mastered by Richard Hartline
Liner notes – Jeff VanderMeer
Executive Producer – Howard Thompson
Album artwork/design – Pablo Delcan
Written by Cheryl Gelover & Tom Murray
Copyright Tulipomania
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
