released November 8, 2012

PERFORMERS:
Elly May Irving (voice, piano), Richard Knox (gtr, organ, drones, field recordings, piano, voice, drums), Angela Chan (cello, viola, violin, glockenspiel, erhu), Lidwine (voice, harp), Frederic D. Oberland (reed organ, harmonium, bells, space echo, bowed pantophone, fender rhodes)
Aaron Martin (cello, bowed banjo, bowl), Tim Hay (gtr, bass, voice), Paul Elam (gtr), Alistair Hay (drums)

Mastered by Nils Frahm

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

"If Górecki had been on 4AD. If This Mortal Coil had covered Thee Silver Mount Zion. This latest Glissando offering is one of those rare occasions where music becomes a portal – a window to other times, other worlds, other lives." [sic] Magazine

"Elly May Irving and Richard Knox create an unmistakable sonic footprint on the release, the sounds have become more orchestral and dynamic, showing not only a furthering of Irving and Knox's skills as musicians over the years, but also their ability to adapt, and create records that refuse to slip into the ruts carved out by previous releases." Futuresequence

"Bubbling over with cinematic melancholy, Glissando’s first album in four years is a breathtakingly beautiful exploration of emotional collapse, as haunting as it is beguiling. Richard Knox’s compositions waver on the crest of complete emotional collapse, mournful piano dirges and spectral ambience punctuated by Elly May Irving’s sharp trills, her voice a distant echo of Jarboe’s racking falsetto, and the calm it conveys is almost suffocating in its honesty. Rather than simply pushing for crystalline beauty, there is a dark undercurrent here that lurks amongst grey drones that wrap and constrict, and at times the swelling of strings becomes a stretching and tearing that proves exquisitely uncomfortable. To call this an accomplished emotional effort would be to downplay its achievements; if given the opportunity to work their way under your skin, Glissando’s music is nothing short of heartbreaking." Rock-a-Rolla

"an immediate, engaging and compelling record that sucks you in and keeps you focused and alive from beginning to end. Glissando save the best for last with the simply stunning finale of Still (II) - a reaction to record opener Still (I) and one of the most sublime bits of song-writing this year." The Steinberg Principle

"There’s a twist in the music. Her voice is the sole survivor, thawing the icy hands with her warm vocal. She won! It is a victory for everlasting love – after all that has happened, and even surviving after we have gone. The final two minutes are her victory cry, but it is one that is ghosted with loss, too, hanging over her world like inflicted, invisible scars. She survived, but the world did not. The surface is just as lifeless as the cloudy sky. Even the flaming sun loses all colour. An ending. A world, without us." Fluid Radio

"‘The World Without Us’ is an album to ponder, to explore and to completely immerse oneself in." Whisperin & Hollerin

"‘The World Without Us’ is an artistic triumph where each note has clearly been carefully considered. Spiritually and musically it belongs in the same niche as Dead Can Dance or Mark Hollis for it’s a record which disobeys the conventions of verses and choruses and inhabits its own peculiar world." Leonard's Lair