(2018)
Melquíades is a debut album of In albedo (ievamarijabaranauskaite.com/band-in-albedo) released in 2018 as LP. To present the album a group of artist created the performance under the same name: Melquíades. The performance is based on In albedo music and the excerpts from Gabriel García Márquez's literature masterpiece "One Hundred Years Of Solitude". It's a mix of literature, theater, music, lights and smels. The theater part is based on Gabriel García Márquez novel "One Hundred Years Of Solitude" and the main line is the character from it: gipsy Melquíades. Music and lyrics are composed by Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė. Famous Lithuanian perfumer created a very special smell (a gipsy melquíades smell), this fragrance is specially created for LP and the show. A young and very talented designer Rūta Lendraityte designed costumes and theater light designer Rimas Petrauskas created a light show. The performance aim was to create the atmosphere by using variuos sence stimulus to make a strong feeling of perception.

Melquíades is the mythical, symbol laden being from Gabriel Garcia Marquez' legendary work “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, who embodies the music and lyrics of “In albedo”. These are filled with the investigation of psychological, alchemical and spiritual archetypes, which are also often found in fairytales.

When someone starts telling a story, every single event is already spread out in narrative time. Therefore, we find ourselves listening a story that was already written and told by Melquíades with one hundred years of anticipation. Thus, our narrator can be located in a present time or in the future to tell us the past. Melquíades, is in a time in which events seem as if they have happened a long time ago. And because of this perspective, he knows not only the past he is narrating, but also the future of the past.

In an unforeseen order of events the gypsy Melquíades and his tribe come into a small town to show the people an array of their latest miracles: flying carpets, magnets, ice, telescopes and other fabulous and magical things. In a ghostly fashion, from time to time he appears and disappears. Every time he dies, over and over, he returns “with a dazzling glow of joy”. Sometimes because, so we are told, he could not bear “the solitude of death”, at other times, to spend countless hours laying down his hundred year old story of solitude on parchment, worded in the language of Sanskrit. Sometimes it could be to correct the rumors of his latest death, which recently was not because of a squid attack as commonly believed, but because he perished on the sands of Singapore. He is always one to remind greed obsessed merchants that happiness does not lie in gold. And all of Melquíades' inventions carry his personal mantra which can be summed up in one sentence: “Things have a life of their own”. He is a fantastic, agitated soul marked by fatal traits. Rumors circle that he has magical powers and the “Keys of Nostradamus”, it is also said he knows his ways in the ancient writings of monk Herman Cripple. His forty tribes of gypsies, in fact, are said to have been “wiped off the face of the earth because they had gone beyond the limits of human knowledge.” Others hint that he exudes an aura of the celestial, yet borders on madness in his personal experiments. He has fine, lissome hands and a giant disheveled beard, wearing the same old-fashioned vest and the hat that looked like a raven’s wings. Prodigious creature enveloped in a sad aura, with an Asiatic look and pale tamples never laughs, because scurvy has caused his teeth to drop out. However, his piercing eyes are said to see right through the other side of the veil. He remains steady, unchanging in his ways, exactly as the son, father and grandfather had seen him when they were child. It is said that he is the author of this and other stories written in Sanskrit, in a “Lacedeamonian military code” and in “the private cipher of the Emperor Augustus”. But throughout a countless amount of his burials, people wrote down the only true thing they knew about him: MELQUÍADES.

Because every human and every generation arrives, time after time, to create their tale from laughter, warmth, goodness, irony, joy, love, the alchemy of sadness, wisdom, spells, inventions, truth and madness. One perishes to leave his own myth of the search for gold throughout a century of solitude. Scribed in a dead language, Melquíades put it on parchment. And the story always remains the same. There is no past, no present, nor future. There is only temporality and the things and events, ringing with meaning or not, scattered throughout the transience of being.

Keyboards & Vocal: Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė
Drums: Rokas Beliukevičius or Martynas Stoškus
El. Guitar: Justinas Žilys
Bass: Tadas Žukauskas or Gabrielius Rimeika
Saxophone: Stasys Šalaševičius
Music & Lyrics: Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė
Actors: Vilma Raubaitė and Paulius Čižinauskas (www.cezariogrupe.lt/)
Light designer-engineer: Rimas Petrauskas
Parfum designer: Laimė Kiškūnė (www.laimekiskune.lt/)
Costume designer: Rūta Lendraitytė (www.utalla.com/ruta-lendraityt)
Audio Engineer: Mantas Tamulionis
Excerpts From Literature: Gabriel García Márquez "One Hundred Years Of Solitude"
Vinyl Artwork: Martynas Baranauskas

Reviews from the top music critics:
„In albedo – Melquiades (2018). A dash to sceptics who think that rock has died. It is just fabulous. In my opinion, we are talking about one of the best albums of all time (not only in Lithuania). In albedo – Melquiades, an album that appeared on vinyl and online this year, on the 21st of June. The vinyl contains a great variety of styles but it can’t be described as eclectic. The closest definition could be progressive jazz/rock opera. It contains 7 parts (although there are 6 compositions on vinyl). The fact that the album is fabulous is largely dependent on the talents that have created it. Firstly, an unbelievably gifted young composer and singer Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė. The other performers of IN ALBEDO are also professional musicians: Tadas Žukauskas, Rokas Beliukevičius, Justinas Žilys, Stasys Šalaševičius. The artwork of the album is also noteworthy. It was painted by Martynas Baranauskas. Mantas Tamulionis worked on the production of the album, a name that has collaborated with many famous bands. The vinyl contains a download code that allows access for getting it online (the download contains another great track PILGRIM), additionally it contains a little fragrant piece with perfume on it, specially produced by Laimė Kiškūnė. I do not know how one can comment on SUCH Music, thus I will refrain and I won't give it a score. It truly is a masterpiece that should be in the collection of every music lover who is worth his salt. I just have to use a phrase of Frank Zappa, even though it has been thrown around a lot. Talking about music is the same as dancing about architecture. Everything on the album is just perfect, it contains jazz, rock (especially progressive), reggae and even classical music lovers will find a good chunk to please their taste. The vinyl also contains a detailed description about Melquiades in English and Lithuanian.“
Mindaugas Peleckis
Source:
www.radikaliai.lt/garsas-sound/4375-in-albedo-melquiades-2018-atsakas-skeptikams-manantiems-kad-rokas-mire

“In albedo” is a collective that is better known abroad and perhaps will never, in Lithuania, gather an audience of which it is truly worth. However, if you do allow yourself to journey with them through their complex music – a journey that needs a certain inner preparation on the part of the listener – and with the book's “One Hundred Years of Solitude” character Melquiades, you will find an inner psychedelic voyage that is unbound by space and time.
Their mix of progressive rock, jazz and ethereal music requires the listener to be focused for the entire 50 minutes. It necessitates a complete trust in the imagination of the creators and a certain breathlessness. As mentioned, it surely is not easy listening or car music.
It's not without reason that the album was presented partially as a play in a theatrical setting. It is hard to really pinpoint as to what type of listener the albums is aimed at. It seems to be a more academically oriented part of the public, even though a look at the biography of the band members (“Bix”, “Freaks On Floor”, etc.) makes it clear that they do also understand what appeals to the taste of the masses. The band tries to balance the album between a sophisticated and lighter, ear catching quality. This balance is not on point the entire time, but the most important element of it remaining interesting is never lost. I would not say that this album will help you relax or that it will make for good background music, rather “In albedo” establishes an entirely different equation in which their music acts as catalyst aiming to transport the listener into the magical world of G.G. Maquez. The instruments and voice of Ieva Baranauskaitė are conducts for subconscious experiences that each listener has to live through for himself.
Whether one is ready to take a journey that does not provide clear answers remains for each individual to decide. I do not know whether this music will appeal to Lithuanians as the local scene is too small for such niche things to survive but if you haven't been intimidated, do join them and Melquiades.”
Jonas Braškys
Source:
370.diena.lt/2018/08/27/klausykla-nr-69/
issuu.com/diena/docs/370__69_web/16

klaipeda.diena.lt/naujienos/laisvalaikis-ir-kultura/kultura/muzikos-albumu-apzvalga-kuri-pasirinkti-881297


“In albedo – Melquiades. This Lithuanian group won't have been heard by many. Like the character in G. Garcia Marquez' novel “One Hundred Years Of Solitude”, Melquiades, who from time to time appears and disappears, always on different occasions. The heart and soul of “In albedo” is Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė – vocalist, pianist, writer and lyricist. Right on from the first minutes of the album, the vast creative potential and wide artistic spectre becomes obvious. I mention the word artistic for a reason. This vinyl was debuted in the “Menų spaustuvė” (Art printing-house) with the help of the light designer and actors from theater “Cezario grupė”. A special fragrance was also created for the event. The story of “In albedo” started in 2011, though I can only judge it by the vast CV of the group. I am more familiar with the drummer of the group, Rokas Beliukevičius who plays in famous Lithuanian band “Freaks on Floor”. The other members of the group, especially Ieva, can be praised for their high education in music and projects involving jazz, contemporary academical music and theatre productions. The idea of an artistic synthesis in the Lithuanian alternative seen is quite a rare find. The album “Melquiades” is a certain psychedelic jazz opera with a strong story line, filled with instruments-characters. Ieva ought to be praised or her soft vocal qualities, but more importantly, her compositional abilities. Such an artistic endeavor is not an easy one to present on stage. I would like to hope that “In albedo” will not stay a niche group that flashes it's presence solely in jazz and theatre festivals.”
Emilija Visockaitė
Source:
www.15min.lt/kultura/naujiena/muzika/birzelio-muzikos-albumu-apzvalga-sventieji-ir-nusidejeliai-284-995534

„In albedo - Melquiades is one of my top albums in 2018. Between jazz, drum'n'bass and still devils know what else. According to G.G. Marquez's work. At first glance, a very pretentious idea. But implemented very interestingly and musically.”
Ramūnas Zilnys
Source:
open.spotify.com/user/1176629705/playlist/2biEcUBTXCGyGokTtigLrB

“Melquiades is the character from the famous mystical realism G.G. Marquez novel “A Hundred Years Of Solitude”. In albedo - Melquiades is a conceptual music work, which was successfully realized and represented with the theater on June 21st. Professional musicians, excellent compositional work, organic synthesis of arts.”
Dovydas Bluvšteinas
Source:
www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/1013693426/muzikos-pasaulis-pagal-dovyda-bluvsteina-2018-06-13-19-00?time_start=1554

"In albedo or music is like alchemy. They has just released the first studio album "Melquíades". He is named after the character of the fantasy realism genius Márquez's novel "100 Years of Solitude." And the name of the group is one of the stages of alchemical transformation. It's impossible to describe the genre of "In albedo", because both jazz and rock music, the world, drum'n'bass, dub and ... all come together in the alchemical alloy ... It would be harder to find what it is not there! They also work with theater and poetry, and strives to make music a lot more than simple entertainment.“
Domantas Razauskas
Source:
www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/1013700685/pakartot-2018-08-11-12-10


Emilija Visockaitė
Source:
www.mic.lt/lt/ivykiai/2018/10/09/grupes-albedo-alchemija/

Ramūnas Zilnys
Source:
www.lrytas.lt/zmones/muzika/2019/02/05/news/albumo-apzvalga-in-albedo-melquiades--9129105/

To Buy A Vinyl:
www.facebook.com/commerce/products/1910982358996599/
www.discogs.com/In-Albedo-Melqu%C3%ADades/release/12375467
www.discogs.com/In-Albedo-Melqu%C3%ADades/release/12166937

Audio Platforms:
open.spotify.com/album/6NUq2JiHuPoxAibsU2Y5ID
itunes.apple.com/us/album/melqu%C3%ADades/1412816217
www.pakartot.lt/album/melquades

Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2l4inpPDng&feature=youtu.be
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbxBcRNpwMo&list=PLCo_nsbPSr6Oapk_h6BOMQec-9zQkAeUY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ny6juCacQ

Press:
www.mic.lt/lt/ivykiai/2018/10/09/grupes-albedo-alchemija/

www.lrytas.lt/kultura/meno-pulsas/2018/06/18/news/vinilinio-albumo-pristatymui-jegas-suvienijo-ivairiu-sriciu-kurejai-6667369/

www.lrytas.lt/zmones/muzika/2018/06/18/news/lietuviu-grupes-in-albedo-albume---istorija-is-legendinio-romano-simtas-metu-vienatves--6668584/

www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/1013693426/muzikos-pasaulis-pagal-dovyda-bluvsteina-2018-06-13-19-00#wowzaplaystart=1554000&wowzaplayduration=504000

www.neringafm.lt/life-improvers/melquiades-vinylas/

www.15min.lt/kultura/naujiena/muzika/birzelio-muzikos-albumu-apzvalga-sventieji-ir-nusidejeliai-284-995534

www.neringafm.lt/music-promo/in-albedo-albumo-melquiades-pristatymas/

www.radikaliai.lt/garsas-sound/4375-in-albedo-melquiades-2018-atsakas-skeptikams-manantiems-kad-rokas-mire

soundcloud.com/in-albedo/lrt-opus-pokalbis-apie-in-albedo-debiutinio-albumo-melquiades-pristayma

www.15min.lt/kultura/naujiena/muzika/ketvirtadieni-grupe-in-albedo-g-g-markeso-roma-melkiada-atves-i-vilniu-284-988262

musicaest.it/2018/07/21/in-albedo-nuovo-album-melquiades-non-ce-passato-ne-presente-ne-futuro-ce-solo-la-temporalita-e-le-cose-e-gli-eventi-che-suonano-con-significato-o-no-sparsi-per-la-transitorieta-dellesse/

www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/1013699584/pakartot-2018-08-04-12-10#wowzaplaystart=2543000&wowzaplayduration=457000

www.lrt.lt/radijas/anonsai/31536/pakartot-in-albedo-arba-muzika-kaip-alchemija

www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/1013700685/pakartot-2018-08-11-12-10#wowzaplaystart=0&wowzaplayduration=3000000