Lunatic Soul

Lunatic Soul is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Mariusz Duda, vocalist and bassist of Polish progressive rock band Riverside. Duda created Lunatic Soul in 2008 as an opportunity to explore musical territories outside of the rock domain. He creates vast soundscapes and stories, using musical elements ranging from ambient and retro electronica to Scandinavian and Slavic folk.

Each LS album carries its own concept, but with the release of Through Shaded Woods, Duda has confirmed a direct connection between each one. All seven albums (and a planned eighth) link together in a direct circle, forming a looping story of life, death, and rebirth. With each album in the main loop (all but Impressions and Under the Fragmented Sky), our protagonist navigates a different stage of his journey, from life (Fractured) to death (Walking on a Flashlight Beam), to afterlife (Lunatic Soul I and II) to rebirth (Through Shaded Woods).

And rather than simply confirm some fan theory through a Tweet, Mariusz went beyond to give us the full plan explicitly (taken from the official Lunatic Soul website, “music” page):

The story currently starts with Walking on a Flashlight Beam, where the protagonist’s self-imposed isolation wears away at him, driving him to take his own life. He emerges in the afterlife in Lunatic Soul I, and makes the choice to be reborn. Lunatic Soul II sees him awaken in a dreamlike realm between life and death, peaceful until the memories of his death and decision return to him, plunging him into limbo, forgotten by the world. In Through Shaded Woods, he is finally able to overcome his imprisonment and be truly reborn into a new life. Still haunted by his journey, he navigates a path of recovery throughout Fractured, finally Moving On from the experience of more than a lifetime.

This path alone would stand as an amazing lyrical choreography, but the confirmation of a planned eighth album to complete the circle, connecting the empowered end of Fractured to that darkest arc in Flashlight Beam, implies that, perhaps, the worst is yet to come. Lyrical moments intertwine various points of the story between albums, creating a discography that can only be considered a masterpiece.