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Ulver: Shadows of the sun
12/02/08 || The Duff
I can’t say that I’m all too familiar with the Ulver discography, but I do know that they released three now considered black/folk classic albums before moving into the electronica-dominated sound with “William Blake’s The Marriage Between Heaven & Hell”, an album that was quick to abandon fans not embracive of such a drastic change in sound whilst rewarding to those willing to stay on board and enjoy the ride, and that they’ve been moulding their music to fit the criteria of such forward-thinking electronic styles all the while remaining unpredictable in their meanderings as much as they’ve tied themselves to a steady development in their musical undertakings. I’ve been a fan ever since “Perdition City”, and I don’t reckon they’ve done wrong ever since, considering “A Quick Fix of Melancholy” is some of the best music I’ve heard and “Perdition City”, “Lyckantropen Themes”, “Blood Inside” and “Svidd Neger” are all examples of exceptionally professional craft.
As much as I did enjoy the band’s last album, however, I felt it to be too direct; the subtle sounds of past albums were still there, but more integrated into the full body of music the album comprised and not so much toned down to make them almost imperceptibly silent to the listener. In this sense, “Shadows of the Sun” is a return to form, as we’re left with some very minimal music that allows the explosive, more textured sounds to deliver more to their strengths, possibly with greater impact due to a more apparent presence; I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed Ulver at their quietest, and although the album as a whole is still very lively, it’s good to have a revisit of the band’s style as experienced on, say, “Lyckantropen Themes”.
Generally, the music is very depressing, and not nearly as brash as on “Blood Inside”; there is a lot of classical piano going on – Garm has cited inspiration from Chopin, and I’m guessing he was just being kind in referencing such a commonly known composer. Knowing the guy, he has influences stemming from within the obscurest of places, but for all my knowledge (vast and great it is), Chopin is about as close a comparison as I can make. Also, whereas “Blood Inside” consisted of tracks that belonged well together, but also could very easily be separated, the minimal sections of this disc enable each section to segue into the next with a fluidity that would be disparaging to interfere with.
Garm’s vocals too have matured well these two years – instead of flirting with the rather loud, bombast style of those on “Blood Inside”, Garm has shifted to a deep, very elegant style of singing that fully complements the mostly depressing, sometimes very dark state of the music (I might add a very fitting, well performed Black Sabbath cover of “Solitude”, altered beyond recognition save for the lyrics). Think of “Blinded By Blood” off “Blood Inside” with some very cool multi-layering and discreet reverb that exhibit some highly emotional, powerful, almost tear-jerking moments that put Ulver in a class entirely of their own.
As with most Ulver releases, to identify whatever instruments are being played/electronically emulated is an effort in futility, so I shan’t bother too much – there’s a lot of classical stuff going on (pianos, I think violins or a cello, some wood instruments, a trumpet and a horn or two), as mentioned, and some saxophone brought back once more from the “Perdition City” days; a lot of drumming, and a bunch of real weird samples – there may even be a guitar at the end of track “Like Music”, but if so, it has been warped with an effect so as to make it nigh unidentifiable. Such is the nature of Ulver’s music, and with “Shadows of the Sun”, the band has transformed into yet another entity while maintaining what’s expected of them, once more portraying the sheer beauty that can be found within music, and leaving the listener questioning how the fuck they do it all time and time again.
9 dark, depressing soundtracks ideal to lull you to sleep out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Jester Records
- Website: www.jester-records.com/ulver
- Band
- Kristoffer Garm Rygg: fuck knows
- Jorn H. Svaeren: fuck knows
- Tore Ylwizaker: fuck knows
- Tracklist
- 01. Eos
- 02. All the love
- 03. Like music
- 04. Vigil
- 05. Shadows of the sun
- 06. Let the children go
- 07. Solitude
- 08. Funebre
- 09. What happened?
