Ulver — Teachings In Silence

I hate limited editions, I always end up buying them as fast as I can before they are sold out. I guess it's because a part of me is a collector. Sometimes I just want to own everything from an artist, even if it's something I already own in a less limited form. This also happened with Ulver's two limited EPs Silence Teachings You How To Sing and Silencing The Singing, which are collected on this album Teachings In Silence, which is also limited to 1000 copies.

I don't really see the logic behind releasing a collection of limited EPs on an even more limited album. I mean, collectors already own the originals, and releasing a collection which is even more limited than the originals makes no sense. In the end it all comes down to the crazy fan who just wants to own it all. As a collectors item, or maybe to impress his friends. My reason: I noticed a shop with Teachings In Silence for sale and thought I needed it. I came up with this lame excuse that I can listen to these two EPs on one disc. So now I don't have to swap the two discs from my stereo. I guess burning both copies on a CD-R was also a solution.

Anyway, Teachings In Silence might be another annoying limited Ulver release, but it does feature the great EPs Silence Teachings You How To Sing and Silencing The Singing. This means the first track is the complete 24 minutes Silence Teachings You How To Sing EP and the other three tracks are from Silencing The Singing.

The first track begins with several minutes of quiet, gritty digital static sounds, with electric piano chords, wordless vocals, light percussion samples, and various other electronic noises. The song has similarities with parts of Perditon City, their last full lenght and first real exploration into this kind of Coil inspired electronic music. I think I can actually hear some samples which were also used on the album. It doesn't matter, because Silence Teachings You How To Sing is an excellent exploration into electronic music.

The Silencing The Singing part contains three tracks. Darling Didn't We Kill You? opens with a simple electric piano piece. There is this same kind of crackling static noise as on the previous track. But play this song loud, because there is this huge deep bass going on, ready to drill a hole in your ears. Speak Dead Speaker gives us another look at static noise, but this time with a small string orchestra. The same orchestra used for the Nattens Madrigal remake album, which has been delayed endlessly. There is also a brief string passage before the last track, which is one of the most interesting moments on this album. Not Saved ends Teachings In Silence with more of the same static noise and simple, but beautiful, melodies.

Teachings In Silence is a nice collection of the two EPs. I think combined they are better to enjoy because the album almosts lasts one hour. I always had this empty feeling after listening to the originals, because they ended so soon. I know, it's stupid, since I can put the other disc in my stereo, but you know, I'm lazy and the EPs fit perfect with eachother. To bad they decided to make this another limited release. You might have some trouble to get your greedy paws on a copy.

So if you enjoyed Perdition City, and are ready for more of this kind of electronic music, check out Teachings In Silence. It's not a drastic shift from what came before it, but nevertheless it's very enjoyable.