Paradise Of The Titans 
: Lava
DL | ST
Released: 3 July 2026
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Paradise of the Titans have signed to Holy Crow records and release an EP of immersive SF Synth-Pop that takes the listener on a dream journey into another realm. Mark Ray reviews…
Paradise of the Titans is the musical project of Alice Weston that immerses the listener into another world. It’s a 3D experience, best listened to with headphones for the full aural experience. 3D glasses are optional, but why not look retro-hip at the same time as losing yourself in cool music?
We reviewed Paradise of the Titans last EP here back in 2020. It’s been a long six years wait for the follow up, though Weston has been busy working on other projects, but now, signed to indie Sheffield label Holy Crow, let’s hope we see more releases from the project.
It would be easy to describe the EP as ethereal SF electro-pop, influenced by Kate Bush, Enya, Gary Numan and the Cocteau Twins, and yes, they are all that, but this would be to miss the uniqueness of Paradise of the Titans. The music and vocals immerse you into an ocean of another world. They use repetition of phrases multiple tracked, often slightly altered, to create a wash of sensuous vocals that swirl entwined around the music. It stimulates the right-hand side of your brain and massages the imagination. And its playful not didactic. In many ways it’s the pure sound of the joy of creation.
And creation is what lead off track Lava feels like. A long held chord opens the song, the vocals drift in like waves rolling in and the drums invoke a tribal South Sea Island sound. But there is a brittleness to the electro beats, invoking the Amethyst icicles entice/but my destiny lay on the ice/on the ice on the ice. It appears to be a creation myth; the lava that falls as a tear from the creator’s eye melts the ice and sets free consciousness across the world – whilst she remains locked in the ice.
The rather wonderfully, and enigmatically named, Crypto Origami is built around a cold electro beat, with an ominous feel, tinged with digital melancholy. The melancholy comes from the digital creation craving a connection ‘like magnets do’. The digital creation unfolds and is remade into beautiful art like origami, but will it ever be more than just a download?
The next track, Sleepwalking, starts with wavering chords and notes bubbling up as in a dream, and then the drums, somnolent, create the effect of heavy-laden steps of the sleepwalker. The vocals come in and out of focus, shifting the sandman’s opium, as the sleepwalker moves in the physical plane, but their consciousness is elsewhere.
There’s a great version of Tubeway Army’s Down In The Park. It takes the classic sinister, doom-laden Numan tune and turns it into a half-remembered dream of the song, like a dying mechanoid’s last clockwork tick, whispering out the words.
The EP is rounded off by two remix versions. Invitation To Love turn Sleepwalking into a big sound, dance remix, whilst Batsch create a video game soundtrack from Crypto Origami.
As with other Paradise of the Titans releases, the Lava EP is a trip to immerse yourself in. The music is an incantation, an invocation, that opens the portal of the Titans’ Paradise, where it all ‘glows in bubblegum shades’ fusing the natural world with pop art, the organic with cyborgs.
More cyber nature than cyber punk.
~
You can find Paradise of the Titans on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram.
All words by Mark Ray. More writing by Mark Ray can be found at his author archive. And he can be found on Instagram.
A Plea From Louder Than War
Louder Than War is run by a small but dedicated independent team, and we rely on the small amount of money we generate to keep the site running smoothly. Any money we do get is not lining the pockets of oligarchs or mad-cap billionaires dictating what our journalists are allowed to think and write, or hungry shareholders. We know times are tough, and we want to continue bringing you news on the most interesting releases, the latest gigs and anything else that tickles our fancy. We are not driven by profit, just pure enthusiasm for a scene that each and every one of us is passionate about.
To us, music and culture are eveything, without them, our very souls shrivel and die. We do not charge artists for the exposure we give them and to many, what we do is absolutely vital. Subscribing to one of our paid tiers takes just a minute, and each sign-up makes a huge impact, helping to keep the flame of independent music burning! Please click the button below to help.
John Robb – Editor in Chief