Meatshell - The Elevator Child

Released May 1 2026, via CD and digital

Andrew Saragossi - alto & soprano saxophones, composition
Helen Svoboda - vocals, electronics, double bass, bass guitar, composition
Pat Telfer - production, recording, mixing
Roman MC - guest artist: spoken word (track 8)
Dylan van der Schyff - guest artist: drums (track 4)

Meatshell’s third album The Elevator Child is full of contradiction. And perhaps that was always going to be the case. The duo’s namesake is itself pluralist in nature - at once soft and hard, full and voidal, exposed and shielded. The fluidity that is anchored in the dual nature of their project allows Saragossi and Svoboda to push and pull as they see fit across concept, process and form. 

The Elevator Child was arrived at through a process of improvisation and serendipitous lyric writing. The individual fragments that make up each track are undeniably of our time - absurd, erratic, existential and defiantly hopeful. The assembly of these elements are formalised, resulting in a highly tuned critique of the culturally and spiritually confused world that we find ourselves in. 

This is complex, vivid, fascinating music but it comes over so easily.  Art pop? Chamber glitch? It feels alive and bright and very new.  As has become customary for a Meatshell release, The Elevator Child sees Saragossi and Svoboda further extend the sonic possibilities of their respective instruments in novel ways, engulfing the listener in seven highly distinctive and idiosyncratic sound worlds which underscore the eccentric and erratic lyricism.  The deeply human, physical and textural sounds conjured by Svoboda and Saragossi are then gleefully twisted, augmented and made into chaos through electronic manipulation by Pat Telfer.

While the record, unselfconsciously, takes on a serious subject matter, aesthetically, it enters an upbeat, rhythmic and at times poppy space.

The Elevator Child is not bound by a nihilistic outlook, despite the existential idioms that emerge out of the album. Although there may be chaos, materialism and collapse within the music, there is also, more importantly, redemption. There is a yearning for the natural, for a cleaner landscape that opens up with purity and belief. One may feel as though they’ve been funnelled through some kind of grim fun-house but by the end of the ride, is granted permission to breathe.

MEATSHELL is the duo of Helen Svoboda (bass, voice, electronics) and Andrew Saragossi (saxophone, electronics).  With a shared curiosity for the subtle beauty of things, the pair cultivates unconventional sound worlds, transcending traditional song forms by emphasising the power of story telling through sound.  Infused with elements of minimalism, experimental jazz, art pop and free improvisation, the music is intimate, raw and unapologetically honest.