ALEXANDRA STRÉLISKI RELEASES XXIM RECORDS DEBUT ALBUM “NÉO-ROMANCE” ON MARCH 31
New Single “ÉLÉGIE” Out Now
XXIM RECORDS/SONY MASTERWORKS ANNOUNCES THE FORTHCOMING RELEASE OF NÉO-ROMANCE, THE NEW ALBUM FROM PLATINUM-SELLING FRENCH-CANADIAN PIANIST AND “NEO-ROMANTICAL” COMPOSER ALEXANDRA STRÉLISKI, AND NEW SINGLE ÉLÉGIE.
Pre-order the album now
XXIM Records/Sony Masterworks is proud to announce Néo-Romance, the new record from French-Canadian pianist and composer ALEXANDRA STRÉLISKI, which will be released on the 31st of March 2023, and new single Élégie, released today, which is accompanied by a music video directed by Laurence Baz Morais. Intrigued by the Romanticism, the romantics, and their “super dark” relationship to nature, STRÉLISKI – long considering herself a neo-romantical composer rather than a neo-classical one – wondered what “the ancient past, and all these big romantic themes” meant in this modern world we’ve created. “How do you stay in that imaginary world in these disillusioned, intimidating times we’re living through? That was the premise and setting for the album.”
STRÉLISKI’S debut album, 2010’s Pianoscope, reached Gold status in Canada, while the follow-up, 2018’s INSCAPE, reached Platinum status in Canada and won multiple awards, including Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2020 JUNO Awards. Her global success also includes over 300 million audio streams and 140k album sales.
For the next step in her stellar career, STRÉLISKI approached Néo-Romance a little differently; composing and recording in Europe for the first time, she also worked with several new musicians and collaborators and explored her family’s past. The songs were written mainly in Rotterdam, where Stréliski moved to be with her partner. And in doing so, she discovered some surprising – and prescient – facts about her past, her family’s varied origins and her ancestors’ penchant for art and creativity.
Such notions of collective identity and shared history resonated deeply and were compounded by the forced separations and feelings of isolation brought on by pandemic lockdowns. Folded into her nascent musical ideas, Néo-Romance took shape, the songs coming “from a very deep, very personal space” but expressing something much more significant. “Néo-Romance is more about imagining things and telling stories,” she says. “To lose yourself whilst listening.”
On ‘Élégie’ – one of Néo-Romance’s most emotional, dramatic pieces and the second single to be taken from the record – a gorgeous, plaintive violin takes centre stage, stirring the soul and tugging the heart. “It’s a final farewell to someone you loved,” STRÉLISKI says of the track. “It’s a sad song filled with pure love. An ode to facing your vulnerability when things are shaking in your life. A homage to the vastness of the world.”
“It was recorded in Paris on a beautiful summer day with the wonderful Karski Quartet. It’s a piece that I started writing during heartbreak but finished in a very happy place. It encapsulates what it means to have a ‘new-romance’ in your life, with all the light and weight of the past that usually come with it.”
Élégie will be released on the 13th of January, 2023, while Néo-Romance follows on the 31st of March, 2023. The album will be released world-wide through XXIM Records except for Canada, where it will be released by Secret City Records. In support of the album, STRÉLISKI will be touring extensively throughout Canada, the US, and Europe in 2023.