Ulver — A quick fix of melancholy ep
This conceptual continuity from one Ulver release to the other is not new. Especially if you look at the dialogue between Garm and Jørn H. Sværen that is featured in Perdition City’s sleeve. This dialogue precedes all the band’s release that were to come, except of course the soundtracks since those works have more to do with opportunities than with long-term plans. If you take one sentence such as “the production of silence in art is an utopian enterprise”, you see that it serves as an introduction to both Silence ep’s (and there are a few other bits where they focus on silence in music), as well as being the first time “utopian enterprises” got mentioned, before becoming the working title for the next full-length (although it has been dropped in favour of Heart). The dialogue started with a reference to Coil’s Chaostrophy, which, in the light of this ep, was probably not innocent…
The ep starts with Little blue bird, featuring, for the first time since Nattens Madrigal, lyrics written by the band. Not surprising since Sværen (already responsible for the lyrics of a few Arcturus songs, as well as for Tragediens trone on Ulver’s demo, Vargnatt) was presumably drafted in mainly to write texts. This one is really good, with a real attention given to the phonetic of the words so that everything seems to flow. The theme of the heart is very present, hinting at the working title of Ulver’s forthcoming full-length. Musically, this is (unsurprisingly) somewhat different to the Norwegians previous releases. Operatic voice samples, strings, keys drones and glitches (used not unlike Coil on Musick to play in the dark – read further). Kristoffer Garm Rygg vocals are terrific as usual, sounding tired and a little dramatic. Up next is the instrumental Doom sticks. The music leaves more room to drums and percussions before welcoming back the strings. And, oh surprise, these strings parts are taken from… Coil’s Original Chaostrophy (see above), a track that featured on Stolen and contaminated songs. The third track is the “main course” of the ep and still gives way to Coil worship. Ulver built their track around the main theme of Coil’s Red birds will fly out of the east and destroy Paris in a night. They added strings and the very surprising operatic vocal lines of Rygg. One of his most impressive performances. This track is quite simply stunning, showcasing a real sense of composition (although the quoting of Coil plays an important part). It ends with strings on their own, a very rich and layered piece for a stylish adieu. After William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud and Tor Ulven, Ulver used, this time around, a poem by Christian Bök. The poem is very impressive: although Bök only uses the letters v, o, w, e, l and s (giving its title to the song), his text remains very evocative and fascinating. But, maybe more than the writing skills of the author, what grabbed Ulver’s attention was probably the ending line “wolves evolve” (for those new to the band, Ulver mean wolves). Those two words are more than an apt definition of the band.
I wrote adieu, but there is one more track. Anyway, the first three songs worked as a whole, echoing each other, musically as well as thematically (a tribute to Coil?). Eitttlane is, in a way, a bonus track. It’s a remix of Nattleite, a song taken from Kveldssanger, at first meant to be included on the 1st decade in the machines remix CD. This is another fabulous track, more Perdition City-like in style, extending bits of the original, adding beats, electronics and some vocals lines, accentuating the melancholic aspect. Breathtaking.
A quick fix of melancholy is a work full of quotes as well as of new ideas. It looks towards Ulver’s past as well as towards their future. It’s a very striking CD, my favourite since the Silencing the singing ep. It also features their best (proper) song since Gnosis.
A little rant: I read quite a few reviews of this ep. None of them mentioned the Coil quotes although the one on Vowels is quite obvious. Why is that? Well, primarily because the reviewers don’t know Coil. But also because all the reviews are coming from metal webzine. Isn’t it time that Ulver gets a little more attention from other types of webzines, from people who actually have the same frame of references that Ulver are playing with? They definitely deserve more attention than they get. There is still a lot of work to do distribution and promotion-wise…
Photo: Kristoffer G. Rygg and Lars Pedersen (When) with Coil