Riverside's Michal Lapaj to release solo album Are You There

Michal Lapaj in the studio holding a CD master
(Image credit: Paulina Kimbar/Facebook)

Riverside keyboard player Michal Lapaj is to release his debut solo album, Are You There on June 18, 2021 via Mystic. Check out the atmospheric video for the first single, Flying Blind, below.

"It seems the time of pandemic halted some projects, but also allowed some others to finally happen," Lapaj has posted on Facebook. "It took a while, due to various reasons, but let’s face it, it took Guns n’ Roses 17 years to record their album – I tried but I can’t beat that, so it’s time to finally release mine."

The 10-track album contains both instrumental pieces and full songs that showcase Lapaj's selection of analogue keys, from Hammond and Rhodes to analogue synths. He's joined on the record by special guests: Antimatter's Mick Moss, Bela Komoszyńska from the Polish band Sorry Boys, and drummer Artur Szolc (Annalist, Inside Again).

He adds: "It’s about 60 minutes long, it contains some melancholic stuff, but also some spacey and dark ambient sounds. Some heavier stuff as well."

The news comes as Riverside frontman Mariusz Duda has posted a photo of the full band on his social media pages, hinting that they're now working on the follow-up to 2018's Wasteland.

Are You There Tracklisting

Pieces
Flying Blind (feat. Mick Moss)
Shattered Memories (feat. Mick Moss)
Shelter (feat. Bela Komoszyńska)
Where Do We Run
Fleeting Skies (feat. Bela Komoszyńska)
In Limbo
Unspoken
Surfacing
From Within.  

cover artwork for Michal Lapaj's Are You There

(Image credit: Michal Lapaj/Anthony Rondinone)