Irish producer Chris Ryan began releasing music under the moniker SORBET last year, and has just announced that his highly-anticipated debut album This Was Paradise will be released on June 4th, 2021. In addition, he's also released 'I Heard His Scythe', with Maija Sofia.

Spending much of his time in the studio with other artists, Ryan took inspiration from producer-led albums like Brian Eno's Another Green World. "I love the way you can hear the playful interaction between friends on an album like that," he explains. "There are none of the constraints or rules that you might have when you're trying to represent the sound of a live band or artist".

SORBET is informed by electronic music just as much as classical and alt-pop, and the record promises to play across genres, with nods to artists like Laurie Anderson, Arthur Russell, Kate Bush and David Byrne. This Was Paradise features a host of collaborators, including Maija Sofia, Mark McCambridge (Arborist) and Mícheál Keating (Bleeding Heart Pigeons), as well as powerful instrumental performances from musicians working in the jazz and classical world.

A rumination on humanity's precarious position in a living Purgatory, the record is about being stuck between Paradise and Hell, "always swinging between the two as a result of how we behave towards each other and our planet. For example, climate change is sliding us towards an almost literal Hell.” This sentiment is embodied in the first release from the album, 'I Heard His Scythe'. The airy, brooding electronic track rebuts the grim reaper and sets the tone for what SORBET has in store.

Listen below.