Ataraxia is out now!
limited edition white vinyl w/ gold foil-stamped album art

1. Mind Garden
2. Floral Dreams
3. Ordinary Magic
4. Soul Utopia
5. Swans
6. Pearl
7. Himmel
8. Ataraxia
9. Kiss of Peace

The concept for and palette of Crystal Dorval aka White Poppy’s ‘Paradise Gardens’ trilogy
first germinated in 2016 as a notion of “paradise music”
combining new age, bedroom shoegaze, and bossa nova into “transcendental Tropicalia.”
As she filled tapes of recordings exploring the idea,
many of the songs gradually gravitated towards the hermetic dream pop her project is best known for,
becoming the albums Paradise Gardens (2020) and Sound Of Blue (2023).
Dorval describes these collections as a sort of “emotional purging or shadow work ,”
before arriving at “the state of inner paradise:” Ataraxia.

As the third, final, and most purist realization of the original ‘Paradise Gardens’ vision,
Ataraxia delivers. Nine instrumentals of nimble guitar, elevated bass, clean rhythm, and clear light,
gliding like swans on a shimmering pond.
There’s a sense throughout of playful tranquility,
of serenades at sunset, of kisses of blissful Muzak wafting along a boardwalk.

But behind the music is a patience, grace, and levity
born of Dorval’s personal journey with spiritual healing that paralleled the trilogy.
A process of transmuting pain into beauty, day by day, melody by melody,
cleaving the darkness from the soul and re-entering one’s rightful home in the Garden.

Music, artwork, and design by Crystal Dorval
Mixed and mastered by Jordan Koop at The Noise Floor
Released by Not Not Fun Records


* + bonus tape *

“Paradise Regained”

includes 11 b-sides from the Paradise Gardens world


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