ELEPHANT HOUSE CHOLLIMA 'Chollima' is the second album from London-based Sino-Greek psychedelic drone ensemble Elephant House. It is due to be released by Adaadat on October 12th. The record showcases Shenggy Shen's beguiling percussion and Christos Fanaras's esoteric synthesiser sounds. The album's title 'Chollima' refers to the mythical winged horse from Chinese mythology which is too swift and elegant to be mounted, an emblem that was especially popular in 1950's North Korea, and can now be seen as symbol of lost Communistic utopias. The opener 'Stin Ypoga' is a instrumental cover of Kostas Mpezos's classic Rebetiko song first recorded in 1930, which details smoking marijuana and hanging around in basements. Shenggy Shen is the former drummer with China's first all-female punk band Hang on the Box. She is also a former member of the avant-duo White with Zhang Shou Wang from Carsick Cars whose self-titled debut was produced by Blixa Bargeld. Her solo music has also been released on Noise Joy and Little Sound. She can also be found playing drums on the Masters 7" 'Rutger Hauer / Scatman Crothers' also released on Adaadat. She co-hosts a music related podcast with her cousin Renli Su called Sistahood on the Chinese 'Radio App' Lizhi FM. Shenggy also makes a guest appearance on the the upcoming studio album by Einstürzende Neubauten for 2020. Christos Fanaras follows in the Greek lineage of ambient pioneers, like Vangelis and Iasos only with an emphasis on deep dark brooding soundscapes and space-age melancholia. He has released music on his own imprint Down Is Up sometimes under the moniker Jack Shirt. Alongside M.K. Hauser, Christos is one half of the project Masters both having previously played together in the band Agaskodo Teliverek. Christos is currently playing bass guitar in Daniel O'Sullivan's band, having recently released an album on Tim Burgess's label O Genesis. A launch party for 'Chollima' is taking place on October the 19th at The Old Baths in Hackney Wick. In addition to Elephant House the launch will feature performances by Mücha, Shex, Oilmen, Damn Dirty Duke and Storyteller. "Easy on the ear, but as unignorable as a thumb pressed into a sleepy third eye. It might have escaped from Eno's studio in the late '70s only to end up here, miles from anywhere and yet strangely in the centre of things ... All told, Elephant House have delivered a beautifully ephemeral and unassuming record, the success of which owes to the fact that it belongs to a moment in time and not a discography." Stuart Marshall (The Sound Projector) s "Elephant House operate in inflections and implications; like scrapbooks detailing transcendent experiences, these tracks are rich in sensation and ambiguously light in comprehension, pulling together disparate accounts of inner awakening in a bid to identify the common thread between them." Jack Chuter (ATTN Magazine) 12" Vinyl (Limited to 300 copies) Tracklisting : (Click on the titles to play the tracks) SIDE 1 : 01. stin ypoga 02. chollima 03. maid 04. world out of balance 05. triangle eyes SIDE 2 : 01. do you like our owl 02. adamantine 03. tao tie 04. greedy shopper 05. mallima Elephant House are : Shenggy Shen (Acoustic Drumkit, Percussion, 808 Digital Drumkit & Vocals) Christos Fanaras (Synths) All Music by Elephant House except Stin Ypoga by Kostas Mpezos Acoustic Drums recorded and engineered by Frank Byng at Snorkel Studios Photography By Rosy Leadley-Watkins Links : Elephant House (Facebook) Elephant House (Soundcloud) Shenggy Shen (Soundcloud) Christos Fanaras (Soundcloud) Track by Track (Ransom Note)