Leaving Lemuria

Sophia Space Agency in Cosmic-Lemurian 

Form and as Earthly-Stage Persona

 

 

I. 

 

For those who don't know, Lemuria is a mythical continent said to lie beneath the Indian Ocean. 

 

Its existence was first proposed by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1864, who was attempting to explain the presence of lemur fossils on Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent but not in continental Africa or the Middle East.

 

After controversial German biologist Ernst Haeckel suggested that Lemuria might also be the birthplace of mankind, the idea was taken up by thinkers outside the scientific community, including Mme. Blavatsky, occultist and founder of theosophy, who absorbed Lemuria into her mystical-religious doctrine.      

 

Blavatsky's writings were influential on many others within the esoteric tradition and before long everyone was excited by the myth of Lemuria and its early (but spiritually advanced) species of human [1].    

 

Theories about Lemuria became untenable when, in the 1960s, the scientific community finally accepted Alfred Wegener's theory of plate tectonics and continental drift, presented in 1912. However, the idea lived on in the popular imagination, especially among those prone to New Age beliefs, crackpot history, and pseudoarchaeology and there is a vast body of fringe literature available for those with the time and patience [2].  

 

 

II. 

 

Those who like this sort of thing seem to include the singer-songwriter and music producer Melpomeni Kermanidou, now working under the project name of Sophia Space Agency, whose seven-track, dark ambient album The Turning Blue was released last month on Lemurian Records [3]. 

 

As I have written about this album and the SSA in two earlier posts on Torpedo the Ark - click here and here - there's not a great deal more I can say here. But it does interest me to know: do the Lemurians represent an aspirational ideal for Miss Kermanidou?

 

She seems to be advocating a more harmonious way of life that balances alien spirituality, deep environmental responsibility, and a love of vintage fashion - so it could be argued that she feels a degree of kinship with these immensely wise (though imaginary) beings from the lost continent of Lemuria. 

 

Perhaps even she bears some kind of spiritual imprint ...? 

 

The SSA also invite us to explore the possibility of a multiverse and of worlds existing in a different dimension - perhaps the last of the Lemurians take shelter there, quietly guiding humanity toward enlightenment and polishing their sacred crystals ... Who knows? 

 

One wonders if Miss Kermanidou will eventually migrate from the world of dark ambience into that of Lemurian music per se - a genre which combines slow techno beats, ancient tribal sounds, and ambient frequencies designed to enhance meditation and bring out the Lemurian in all of us. 

 

As an artist who likes to develop in new directions, it's certainly possible. 

 

But perhaps at this point - and before she throws herself fully into all things Lemurian - let us recall something written by Jung in a letter of warning to Echidna Stillwell: 

 

 

[…] your attachment to a Lemurian cultural-strain disturbs me intensely. From my own point of view - based on the three most difficult cases I have encountered and their attendant abysmally archaic symbolism - it is no exaggeration to state that Lemuria condenses all that is most intrinsically horrific to the racial unconscious, and that the true Lemurians - who you seem intent upon rediscovering - are best left buried beneath the sea. I agree with the Theosophical writings at least this far: it was in order that the darkest sorceries should be erased by deluge that this continent of cultural possibility has been placed under the unconscious sign of definitive submergence. I know little enough about the nature of those that populated that cursed zone, but there are things I suspect, and the line of your own researches confirms my most ominous intimations. [4]

 

  

Notes

 

[1] I really don't want to follow Blavatsky too far down the theosophical rabbit hole, but, in brief, she believed Lemurians to be the third of seven distinct root races from which modern humanity evolved. Exceedingly tall beings - 12 to 15 feet in height - Lemurians possessed a third eye via which they could perceive higher dimensions. 

      Unfortunately, after discovering sex they began to mate with lower species. This led to their spiritual degeneration and eventual downfall (although, on the bright side for any primatologists reading, it did result in the creation of apes). 

 

[2] See the work of James Churchward, for example, who developed the concept of Lemuria in several books published in the 1920s and '30s. He referred to it as the lost continent of Mu, however, and identified its location in the Pacific Ocean (also incorporating ideas to do with Atlantis into his work). 

      See also L. Sprague de Camp's classic study Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature (Gnome Press, 1954). An updated version was published by Dover Press in 1970 and it remains one of the most reliable books on this subject.   

 

[3] The link is to Spotify from where The Turning Blue can be downloaded. Readers who prefer their music the old-fashioned way, can pre-order a limited-edition vinyl album, released on 9 October 2026, from propermusic.com  

[4] This excerpt from a letter (allegedly) written by Jung to Echidna Stillwell and dated 27 Feb 1929 (for which there is no evidence of a reply) is quoted by Nick Land in 'Occultures', a text written in 1999 which can be found in Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007, ed. Robin Mackay and Ray Brassier (Urbanomic / Sequence Press, 2011), p. 549. 

      It can also be found in CCRU: Writings 1997-2003 (Urbanomic, 2022) under the title 'The Unlife of the Earth'.   

 

 

For a follow up post to this one on lemurs vs Lemurians (or natural history contra occult pseudoscience), please click here.    

 

 

Melpomeni: Queen of the Dark Ambient (In Anticipation of an Event by the Sophia Space Agency)

Sophia Space Agency: The Turning Blue

Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 

Weds 29 July 2026 

  

I. 

 

Etymologically, the word dark traces back to the Middle English derk and Old English deorc, signifying an absence of light, obscurity, or gloom. Somewhat fittingly, its exact origins remain uncertain. 

   

 

II. 

 

It's one of those funny things, but when you place the modifier dark in front of another word - for example, horse, chocolate, or energy - you not only form a fixed idiom, but create a phrase with a mysterious, erotic charge and, in some cases, a gothic double meaning. 

 

Critics will say that this claim is a subjective linguistic exaggeration. But I think that - with a little imaginative generosity - the argument not only holds good, but can be developed. 

 

For dark is not just any old modifier; it has the power to move a noun away from its literal meaning into a figurative (and intensive) space of the unknown, the hidden, the secret. It naturally arouses curiosity and triggers a curious state of arousal in those attracted to the occult and the dark side of things.  

That seems to include the London-based, Greek-Australian singer-songwriter Melpomeni Kermanidou - a self-styled queen of the musical genre known as dark ambient. 

 

 

III. 

  

As the conceptual genius behind the Sophia Space Agency and Chair of the Future Sound Experience Council at the Ivors Academy, Ms Kermanidou has always been more than a Mediæval Bæbe. And her musical style has always been both groundbreaking and genre-defying - a fact which has arguably not served her well in an industry that likes to categorise and label its musical artists.  

 

Her new album, The Turning Blue, was released independently earlier this month and will serve only to enhance her reputation. A dark and experimental work, it uses extensive vocal processing to create a synthesised alien soundscape that prioritises tone, texture, and atmosphere over traditional musical structures like rhythm and melody. Listeners will be treated to elements of drone, minimalist classical and electronic music.

 

Despite its ambient quality, The Turning Blue refuses to sit comfortably as mere background texture. It builds rather an environment that feels both deeply intimate and unsettlingly vast, distorting the human element in the process. Central to this is the fact that the dark ambient genre relies on an orchestration of absence and structural silence to map out the contours of the unknown. It's not just dissonant sounds and sudden loud noises intended to cause a jump scare à la the less subtle of horror film scores. 

 

Crucially, the digital edition of the album was mixed and mastered in spatial audio by Martyn Ware. By utilizing three-dimensional sound, the production ensures these synthetic landscapes do not just sit in front of the listener, but actively surround them and, if they're not careful, swallow them whole. 

 

The true test of this atmospheric manipulation, however, will be its translation to the stage. Melpomeni's upcoming live performance at Kings Place presents a compelling paradox. Staging an art form deeply rooted in silence and dark obscurity within a contemporary London venue celebrated for its acoustic clarity and state-of-the-art lighting creates a tense, fascinating friction.

 

Ultimately, this convergence of a flawless physical space and the Sophia Space Agency's dark ambient compositions offers something rare: a challenge to the audience to step out of the comfortably illuminated world and willingly surrender to the hidden, the secret, and the beautifully unresolved. 

 

    

For an earlier post by Stephen Alexander on the Sophia Space Agency (26 June 2026), please click here. 

 

And for a sister post by Jennifer Davis Taylor on the Sophia Space Agency (27 June 2026), click here.  

  

Earth Calling the Sophia Space Agency

Melpomeni Kermanidou

Vocalist and Project Leader of the Sophia Space Agency 

 

Photo taken at The Turning Blue spatial audio playback + Q&A

Kings Place, London N1 

(24 June 2026)  

 

 

I. 

 

The other night, at Kings Place - the cultural pulse of King's Cross - I was pleased to offer my support to Melpomeni Kermanidou. A London-based, Greek-Australian composer, songwriter, music producer, and performer, Meni works across ambient, electronic synthesis, and cinematic genres [1].

 

Wearing a sleeveless white dress with a round neck, zipped front and slightly flared skirt cut above the knee - a retro space-age aesthetic from the 1960s that magically retains its clean, futuristic appeal - matched with a fabulous pair of white leather lace-up ankle boots, featuring a stacked heel and fluorescent neoprene pink details (Prada), she looked - as she always looks - extraordinarily beautiful (see the image above). 

 

 

II. 

 

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the two gentlemen who shared the stage with her ...

 

Seventy-year-old musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and programmer Martyn Ware (yes - that Martyn Ware, founding member of the Human League and Heaven 17) sat opposite her, wearing what looked like a tie-dyed shirt and a pair of blue DC trainers. 

 

Beside him was Patrick Clarke, who interviewed Meni and Martyn in his role as journalist and Deputy Editor of online popular culture magazine The Quietus, wearing knee-length shorts that displayed the kind of pale legs forever associated with Ernie Wise (short, fat and hairy), along with a shirt that looked as if it had been slept in (and for more than one night).

 

I know it was very hot outside, but, really, they could have made a bit more of an effort. They were on a stage, after all, and in the presence of a serious artiste who has worked so hard for so long to bring this current project to fruition. To me, their complete lack of sartorial concern created a revealing tension with Meni's carefully curated aesthetic and it felt disrespectful to her professionalism, the audience, and the event (see the image below). 

 

 

III. 

 

Moving on - and remembering this was intended to be a music event and not a fashion show, I suppose I should say something about the album unveiled via spatial audio playback [2] as mixed by Martyn Ware (there was, sadly, to be no live performance on the night). 

 

Titled The Turning Blue [3], the album is a dark and experimental work of what is known as ambient music - a genre pioneered in the 1970s by the likes of Brian Eno, who coined the name and established the conceptual foundations for the genre [4]. It essentially prioritises tone, texture, and atmosphere over traditional musical structures like rhythm and melody and often incorporates elements of drone [5], minimalist classical and electronic music.   

 

Not entirely sure what to expect, I smiled when presented at the entrance to the hall with an eye mask, which we were asked to wear for the duration of the album's playing. Obviously, I wasn't going to do that. I wouldn't wear a blindfold to face a firing squad and I'm not going to do it in order to listen to some music, no matter how it's meant to enhance the immersive experience [6].

 

Actually, the album was pretty good and Melpomeni can be proud of her work. If, towards the end I got a bit bored and began to wish for ear plugs rather than an eye mask, this was not because the music lacked merit - there were intriguing elements and surprises throughout - but because I simply required a breather from its sheer intensity.  

 

Funnily enough, considering Melpomeni's Antipodean origins, rather than techno-alien I thought the album sounded a bit Aboriginal at certain points and it occurred to me that, although not inherently ambient in a modern sense, the hypnotic and sustained quality of Indigenous music could easily be adapted to the genre. At other times, I thought Meni's astonishing vocalisations came close to a form of whale song and I was reminded of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (dir. Leonard Nimoy, 1986). 

 

My primary concern, however, lies not with Meni's powerful compositions themselves, but with the pristine production and the spatial audio mix. Together, they constructed walls of sound which, as Martyn Ware said afterwards, had a cathedral-like quality. Such hyper-polished perfection and Wholeness becomes overwhelming and oppressive at last - every acoustic space is filled - and it is in stark opposition to the gargoyle aesthetic affirmed by Lawrence in The Rainbow (1915) [7] and championed here on Torpedo the Ark. 

 

One yearned for error and imperfection (and a little fresh air) rather than non-stop transcendent beauty and recurrent ecstasy; one listened out for sounds which existed externally to the album and I looked forward to hearing the little birds chirping in my garden in the morning; to hear a note that The Turning Blue did not include; "something free and careless and joyous" [8].

 

In space, it seems, not only can no one hear you scream, no one can hear you laugh either ...  

 

 

IV. 

 

As for the subsequent Q&A session, I enjoyed that as it gave me the opportunity to listen and learn and admire Miss Kermanidou's fabulous footwear. The stage discussion served to reinforce the deliberate nature of Melpomeni's artistic vision; the airless, clinical perfection of the mix wasn't an accident - it was exactly what she set out to achieve. 

 

And while I might personally believe in the ruins and think that a cathedral - including a cathedral of sound - is never perfectly a place of gathering until the roof has caved in and it is "mixed up with the winds and the sky and the herbs" [9] - there is no denying that Meni has executed her vision with absolute authority. 

 

The Turning Blue may not be a space I would choose to inhabit - and I was slightly relieved to step out into the chaotic streets of London once more - but it is undeniably a monument to Meni's extraordinary talent and dedication and I wish her all the success in the world. 

 

 

Martyn Ware, Patrick Clarke, and 

Melpomeni Kermanidou (SSA)

 

 

Notes

 

[1] Whilst I'm unable to provide a full biography on a post such as this, here's a bit more about Miss Kermanidou for those who are interested: Melpomeni studied modern music composition at university in Melbourne, Australia before heading over to the UK. A long-serving member of the Mediæval Bæbes, she released her own solo album in 2010: 8 Tragedies, 2 Love Songs & A Breakdown (Lighthouse Records).  

      Meni then moved into the underground sound art scene; The Turning Blue (see note 3 below) marks her return to the surface. Miss Kermanidou serves as Chair of the Ivors Academy Future Sound Experience Council, which is dedicated to spatial sound, AI, ambient music, electronic music, and the latest in music creation. She is also a full member of the Music Producers Guild and registered with Fusion Management, one of the UK's leading talent and model agencies. 

      She can be contacted via all the usual social media websites.  

 

[2] For those who don't know - and before last night that included me - spatial audio involves the use of technology to create a 3D, immersive listening experience by simulating sounds as if they are coming from all around you. 

      Unlike traditional stereo sound - which only plays through left and right channels - spatial audio adds height and depth, making it feel like you are sitting in the middle of a soundscape. 

 

[3] The Turning Blue is the seven-track debut album from the experimental dark ambient sound project conceived by Melpomeni Kermanidou and known as the Sophia Space Agency. Mixed in spatial audio by Martyn Ware, it uses extensive vocal processing to create synthesised alien soundscapes.

      The Turning Blue is released independently on 17 July 2026 on digital platforms; a limited edition vinyl version, mastered in stereo by Rafael Anton Irisarri will be released later in the year.

 

[4] In 1978, Brian Eno - a one-time member of Roxy Music (1971-73) - released the album Ambient 1: Music for Airports (E.G. Records /Polydor). Punk rock it ain't! 

 

[5] Again, for those who might not be au fait with this genre - and again, before last night that included me - this is a minimalist type of music using sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters (called drones). It is typically characterised by lengthy compositions featuring relatively slight harmonic variations. 

 

[6] I could tell the ageing hippie sitting next to me wasn't too impressed with my refusal to give myself over to the experience and play ball by wearing the eye mask. 

      But I don't like the enforcement of aesthetic compliance under strictly curated conditions; it's bad enough having to sit still and be quiet for the duration of a performance or playback, but being told to wear a blindfold in an already darkened hall and instructed on how to listen to pre-recorded audio seemed a bit much to me. Having said that, watching as audience members willingly blindfold themselves on command highlighted the immense control an artist can exert not only over her own work, but its reception.

      Ultimately, I'm just not a very good audience member for the same reason I'd make a lousy worshipper in church - I like distractions and the odd disruption to the performance, playback, or ceremony; anything to break the magic spell. 

 

[7] See D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow, ed. Mark Kinkead-Weekes (Cambridge University Press, 1989), Chapter VII, 'The Cathedral', pp. 183-195. I have referred to the gargoyle aesthetic many times on TTA.

      For me, it includes cracks, gaps, fragments, ruins, ruptures, breakdowns, and not just the "wicked, odd little faces carved in stone" that peep out of the "grand tide of the cathedral" and expose the illusion of Wholeness (The Rainbow, 189). 

 

[8] D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow, p. 191.  

 

[9] Ibid. 

 

 

Musical bonus: visit the Sophia Space Agency YouTube channel and play the tracks: 'Star Cycle', written by Melopemi Kermanidou and produced by Melpomeni Kermanidou and Jasper Dent; and 'What a Mess', composed and produced by Melpomeni Kermanidou and Arjun Bhamra. 

      Both tracks can be found on the album The Turning Blue (Sophia Space Agency, 2026) - which may or may not come with an official SSA eye mask:

 

 

  

For a thoughtful sister post to this one by Jennifer Davis Taylor, please click here.