Surprise or otherwise, Manu doesn’t hail from Riga. Nor is it his real name. It is in fact the
alias assumed by Adriaan Baussens, an underground production wunderkind who resides
deep inside the Bonzai heartland of Belgium.

Teasing, to a fair degree, the world of electronic music with his deeply textured productions
and reworks, they have been percolating the mixes of more progressively thinking DJs for
several years now. From his earliest Bonzai releases like ‘Time In Between’, to his latest
outings like ‘Forgotten’ (as well as remixes on the works of Gai Barone, Art of Trance,
Moshic and others), his darkly brewed brand of late night absorption has attracted attention
from several electronic music quarters

This month - for the very first time - Manu steps up to the album plate. Artists’ only get one
debut longplayer, so it needs to weigh heavy. Manu’s though is nothing short of extraordinary.
A 12-track-strong body of work, ‘Surrounded’ serves as an atlas of his exotic musical
inspirations and stimuli. Its numbers work as both standalone tracks and – in the album’s
odyssey-like end-to-end mix – as a ceaselessly immersive listen. It’s a mix whose
transmission moves tactically upwards through tempo & tone phases, whilst largely
transcending genre and established categorization.

For lovers of less regular forms of electronic music fruit, your deepest wishes are about
to be fulfilled, your prayers answered -‘Surrounded’ is among us from today.

Listen to clips from Manu Riga’s ‘Surrounded’ via the Bonzai Progressive Soundcloud
channel here:

Pick ‘Surrounded’ up via Beatport here: beatport.com/release/surrounded/1772624

The album weighs anchor with the shuffling percussion, timeless pads and stargaze
celestial-ism of ‘First Steps’. Albeit coolly and with tempo most casual, its followed by
‘Moments Of Sobriety’, which introduces drums to the album, tinting them with Far Eastern
resonance and instrumentation.

‘Migration’ and ‘Indigenous Rights’ drops the bass frequencies further, bringing greater
depths, roll and groove to ‘Surrounded’s progress. Raising the drama meanwhile are
its title track (complete with the haunt of singer Mimi’s vocals) and the dubby echology
of the Massive Attack-like ‘Immortal Sins’.

As it transits into its second act, ‘Surrounded’ slowly, but perceptibly changes gears,
moving from outright progressive onto a more trance-prog footing. As a triplet, ‘Cry To
Oblivion’, ‘Urge To Live’ and ‘I Don’t Need You’ generate a more galactic, open-natured
feel to the album, adding shades of Sasha & Digweed and early Leftfield to its sonic palette.

‘When The Day Is Gone’ and ‘Get Me Down’ edge it further upwards, setting elegiac cello
& viola strings against sub-bass and contrasting orchestral piano notes with the ether of
rainforest FX. Concluding its stylistic journey, and bringing it near full circle, ‘Forgotten’
provides the perfect dénouement. A beat-less swansong, with Fe Malefiz’s somewhat
Bjork-like vocals delivering a poigniance that lingers long after ‘Surrounded’s final note.

Manu Riga - ‘Surrounded’ Tracklist:
01 First Steps
02 Moments Of Sobriety
03 Migrations
04 Indigenous Rights
05 Surrounded (featuring Mimi)
06 Immortal Sins
07 Cry To Oblivion
08 Urge To Live
09 I Don’t Need You
10 Get Me Down
11 When The Day Is Gone
12 Forgotten (featuring Fe Malefiz)(Last Day On Earth Mix)
13 Surrounded – Continuous Bonus Mix (album only track)

manu-riga.com
facebook.com/manurigafanpage
twitter.com/manuriga
soundcloud.com/manu-riga

bonzaiprogressive.com