PARADISE LOST
the new album by INAL BILSEL
"Paradise Lost is a very accomplished and inventive album that serves as a great cinematic journey, managing to effortlessly weave together so many different influences and drift in different directions, whilst maintaining a real sense of wonder and interest as to what is around the next corner. Like all good albums, this needs to be listened to in full and deserves repeated listens."
Jake D. Archer
Loose Lips
THE STORY
The nuclear war brought an uncharted business opportunity for the clandestine company Simex. Their simulated reality machines exploit the desire to escape the gloomy existence of the post-war. These highly addictive brain-mangling devices need pre-programmed tapes to work. In an unconscious altered state, each tape transports the user to a different “world”, sometimes even manufactured from memories. Although anyone can tamper with the contents of a tape, the original unaltered SimTapes - the most realistic of them all - are a lucky find.
Near the ruins of Fabulous Varosha -a post-apocalypse themed pre-war amusement park- a settler inadvertently acquires a SimTape from a traveling merchant. Theirs is a closed society, governed by an elder committee who insist the world beyond their settlement is inhospitable. At the heart of the community is their sole SimEX machine. The only form of entertainment around. Realising the significance of this new tape, the elders send him on a quest to search for its origins.
All clues point to a place called Memory Lane, a street full of tape shops. During his quest to find this elusive place he suffers from SimTape withdrawal symptoms. In a delusional state of mind, his perception of reality becomes a blur. Did he become a tapehead, experiencing a tailored simulation made from his fantasies? Or is he really the chosen one, destined to be the salvation of his people?
MEDIA
BIOGRAPHY
A multifaceted and award-winning composer of electronic, classical contemporary, film and experimental music, Inal Bilsel is not only a composer but also an artist incorporating visuals and conceptualized ideas to his work as well as seeking to challenge the perceptions by blurring the lines between accessible and experimental.
Before choosing the path of electronic music, Inal was classically trained in composition at Royal Holloway, University of London and Eastern Mediterranean University where he completed a portfolio of work including Orchestral, chamber and numerous solo pieces.
He is also known for scoring music for a number of Cypriot short films including the award-winning Random Attempts and Letters To Cyprus.
In 2007, he won the grand prize of Notion International Composition Competition. Also that year, his piece Nilay’s Dream was performed and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
His debut album A New Beginning was released in 2009. Inspired by the possibility of life existing on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, the album narrates within a musical context the story of life beginning and ending on a planet.
Inal Bilsel is currently pursuing a PhD degree in music composition at Royal Holloway, University of London.