Alex Smalley 'Vanaprastha' [LP]

160 gram LP on transparent pink vinyl housed in a UV high gloss coated jacket. Full color center labels. Record placed in black, anti-static inner sleeve with a .75 gauge archival polypropylene lining. Shrinkwrapped. Edition of 150. Bandcamp download code included.

Alex has released a collection of immersive works with Past Inside the Present and we are honored to release his first official solo album.

Alex has worked under the well-known aliases Olan Mill and llm, which PITP released previously unreleased tracks for our Healing Sounds I Compilation (bit.ly/2VJpHfm). His track, ‘Gaia’ still is our highest streamed track from our catalogue.

Less than a year later, PITP released a long player by Alex and Simon’s drone project known as Pausal. 'Melatonia' was the seventh album by the duo and encompassed six expansive pieces, sequenced into an uninterrupted hour long album designed for prolonged and deep listening.

A year later from Melatonia, we are pleased to offer Alex’s newest endeavor titled, ‘Vanaprastha’. According to Alex, ‘Vanaprastha was inspired by so many different events, changes and progressions it's hard to pin down anything specific, though relocating from the UK to Germany was impactful, along with starting a family’.

He further states, ‘learning more about plant medicine, Veganism, meditation and yoga on the Island of Koh Phangan in Thailand was really progressive for my creative process.’

The title Vanaprastha literally means "retiring to the forest" and is the third stage in the Varnashrama system of Hinduism. It represents the third of the four ashramas of human life, the other three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Sannyasa.

Alex states, ‘This is my first solo album, the music serves as a release from an old way of life where for many years I was lost and found in the woods of rural Hampshire, England.’

The music on Vanaprastha is deeply layered and mediative. Written, recorded and mixed throughout the summer of 2020, you will hear Guitars, flutes, voice, organ and Marimbas that were set against field recordings from the river Ilm, Weimar.

Alex’s music is a collage of therapeutic dream-states aimed to promote mindful interactions with nature and the cosmos. 

Written and performed by Alex Smalley
Mastered by Porya Hatami
Artwork by Bruce Riley
Layout and assemblage by zakè

© Past Inside the Present
This is PITP-V038