*The Following Press Release Was Issued By fiftyCC*
CARDIOID SINGS “CRYSTAL LATTICE LULLABIES,” OUT NOW ON MAJOR PLATFORMS
PORTLAND, OR — February 5, 2021 — Today, Cardioid releases Crystal Lattice Lullabies, the anticipated follow-up to last fall’s acclaimed Fantasy Metal EP, on all major streaming platforms. For the Portland-based synth-pop musician, also known as Lizzy Ellison (and formerly of Radiation City), each project constitutes one half of a powerful creative expression; together, they represent the completion of an epic metamorphosis in her personal and professional lives.
A more intimate and stripped-down affair than Fantasy Metal, which luxuriated in its glam-guitar operatics and anthemic choruses, Crystal Lattice Lullabies serves as a conceptual prequel, capturing the moments in which Ellison first found the inner clarity needed to transition from a previous self she’d long since outgrown.
From swooningly romantic “Arrows” to the emphatically dreamlike ballad “Lucy,” the seven tracks gathered together on Crystal Lattice Lullabies represent a handwritten diary of gradual self-exploration and increasingly ecstatic reclamation. “Most of the language in these songs revolves around a feeling that the femininity I embodied was less important than the male counterpoints in my life,” explains Ellison.” Even lines telling the male they need to listen are sung with a soft tongue. It’s also about my personal struggle with anxiety and fear, a byproduct of having little understanding of how to have healthy love.”
Still sonically resplendent with crunchy guitar squalls, lush reverb and giddily elastic vocals that range from somber to soaring, Crystal Lattice Lullabies cuts to the quick with seven immaculately formed songs written and recorded over a five-year period. The release includes wistfully reflective lead single “Party Time,” live staples “Cool for the Day” and “Tulum” and never-before-heard tracks like the exquisitely slow-blooming “Sake” and cathartic “The Beginning.”
The creative project of Portland-based frontwoman Lizzy Ellison (previously of Portland’s Radiation City), Cardioid flits between genres and tones with the sly, dexterous abandon of a woman in full control. Evoking the distorted guitar ballads of Angel Olsen one minute and the funky, mercurial art-rock of St. Vincent the next, her music is unstuck in time and edged with mist.
Crystal Lattice Lullabies is available digitally on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music and other major platforms.
Crystal Lattice Lullabies Track Listing:
- Cool for the Day
- Lucy
- The Beginning
- Tulum
- Sake
- Party Time
- Arrows
Crystal Lattice Lullabies was recorded by Elisabeth Ellison (guitar, vocals, bass) with Riley Geare (drums), and mixed and mastered by Geo Botelho.
About Cardioid
The main creative project of Lizzy Ellison (previously of Portland’s Radiation City), Cardioid flits between genres and tones with the sly, dexterous abandon of an artist in full control. Evoking the distorted guitar ballads of Angel Olsen one minute and the funky, mercurial art-rock of St. Vincent the next, her music is tactile, industrial-strength dream-pop awash in fuzzed-out guitars and retrowave synths. Ellison terms it “fantasy metal,” silvery and elusive, resoundingly strong yet invitingly fluid. Cardioid’s first full-length, 2017’s “Parts Dept.,” was a nine-track exploration of loss and longing Ellison now looks back on like an old diary. Her new and upcoming music is something else – coiled, wry, rhapsodic, sensual. “I’d love to someday make a record that’s not autobiographical,” maintains Ellison. “But I just can’t.” The music, instead, serves as a mirror to the restless, virtuosic mind of a woman only now reaching the peak of her sonic powers. Visit cardioidmusic.com and follow Cardioid on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
