OPHELIA SULLIVAN - The Hunger CD

Releasedate: 05.02.2027

With „The Hunger“, Ophelia Sullivan picks up exactly where the previous album, „Disposable Identity“, left off. Yet compared to its predecessor, „The Hunger“ marks a shift towards greater cohesion in both sound and instrumentation, without sacrificing the genre-defying diversity of stylistic elements that define Sullivan’s musical language. Post-Progressive, Progressive Metal, Post-Rock, and Trip-Hop converge into a singular, dark sonic landscape, informed by Sullivan’s background in electronic music. Recorded with a mix of returning and new collaborators (including Fenix Gayed of Soulsplitter on drums and Marie-Luise Thurm of Laudare on bass) the album thrives on the tension between crushing heaviness and fragile intimacy. Nowhere is Sullivan’s obsession with contrast and proclivity for odd meters showcased more powerfully.

„The Hunger“ documents the dance at the abyss of depression, the fall, the struggle back to the surface, the act of saving your own life over and over again — only to discover that what comes after can be just as frightening as what came before. Only more alive. More honest. More self-determined.

At the heart of the album lies the tension between the longing for permeability, even to the point of self-dissolution, and the longing to solidify the contours of the self. Sullivan acknowledges that the desire for encounter and contact contains an element of metaphorical violence — the desire to be broken open, to crack the facade, to split open the surface in order to reach some imagined core. Rather than resisting this force, Sullivan embraces it with open arms and names it the hunger. The hunger for life itself. For connection. For genuine encounter, whatever the cost. The hunger that, wherever the permeable self opens outward, spills from every crevice, flows from every opening, cannot be contained. The hunger as life force, as a compass leading out of depression.

We have to lose ourselves to find ourselves. Again and again. The liberatory power of queer joy will guide your way.

Tracklist:
1. Core (Resurrected)
2. Anemic
3. The Hunger
4. Captivate
5. Seeing Each Other
6. Interstice
7. Seep Through Me Unspeakable
Fearlessness
8. Moonlight Sea
9. Eros