Ulver "Lyckantropen Themes" CD
[The End]
This is the soundtrack for a Swedish short film by the name of "Lyckantropen" that consists of 10 "themes" that are all improvisations based around the same three chords produced on mobile equipment. You really can't tell that there are 10 tracks because everything runs together seamlessly, and aside from some obvious recurrences of the basic chord progression you also don't really feel like you're listening to the same thing over and over again. Stating that the tracks are "all improvisations based around the same three chords" is a bit misleading because the listen does not come off that way at all in my opinion. The selections range in length from barely over a minute to more than seven minutes, but I really view this more as one long piece than 10 shorter segments. Like some of Ulver's recent work this material is very calm and rather minimal in its use of textures and tones, and obviously things are not as involved or dynamic as "Perdition City" or anything of that nature. For the most part the tracks are musical and the mood is very consistent. There are a few stark moments that stick out, but nothing breaks away so much that it would make me question referring to the album as a very complete composition whose divisions really serve little purpose. In fact, since all of the "songs" are untitled, I'm not exactly sure why the CD is divided into separate tracks at all. Not that it matters, but I would have just put on one track that runs 36:23 and that would be that. The final three tracks do head in a slightly more involved direction with some percussive rhythms and their own unique foreground textures, but I still think that everything flows well. As usual I have no complaints about the recording quality when it comes to Ulver. I don't know what "mobile equipment" means exactly, but don't be fooled by the potential suggestion that such tools would lead to a lesser sound quality, because everything is as crystal clear and encompassing as usual. I haven't seen the short film, but since all of the images in the layout are video stills, I think it's safe to assume that they're screen captures from the short film for which this music was composed. Some of the images and colors are more interesting than others, but it definitely looks pretty cool for the most part. All of the tracks are untitled, and inside the booklet there are numerical notations spanning the tops and bottoms of the pages in black bars. I'm assuming that they're some kind of sequencing arrangements (what with terms like PQ Entry and PQ Duration) but I can't be sure. As always Ulver never fails to impress the hell out of me. This is an excellent release that should not be missed by Ulver fanatics. (8/10)
Running time - 36:23, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: all are untitled]
The End Records - http://www.theendrecords.com

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