Ulver — A Quick Fix of Melancholy — released 26/08/2003

Hello folks! I am feeling particularly uninspired and unfunny today, so this review will also be particularly uninspired and unfunny.

Here’s another EP by the three little piggies Kris, Tore and Jørn. It apparently is a precursor of sorts to Blood Inside, their 2005 album.

Quick Fix feels and is much more acoustic than their immediately prior work, which in my opinion works very well. The many orchestral sections feel adequate and not cheesy or gratuitous; the synthetic, processed stuff, while not a negative by any means, is tastefully toned down to allow more space, both for a multitude of solemn instruments such as cellos and trumpets and clavichords (?), as well as… nothing.

Yes, that’s right, this EP’s use of empty space and silence is one of the things that caught my attention the most. Granted, there aren’t really many moments of real silence, but it feels like there is a void of sorts, constantly lurking in the background, that could be but is never really filled by anything; it evokes a certain suspense, maybe, even some dread or solemnity here and there. That’s how I see it at least.

Another thing that caught my attention is how consistent this is vibe-wise — it does really feel like one continuous thing — while not forgoing variation in a smaller scale. Consistency in the larger picture, variation in the smaller. That sounds about right, doesn’t it? Finally, it seems like our good friend Frog was correct: Tricky Gee Tha Throat GOAT has indeed learned how to sing, operatically no less, and it is with the utmost pride that I can say that I actually look forward for more Garm Of The Opera moments instead of loathing them.

All in all, great EP that is absolutely not done justice by my shitass review, but you can’t always get what you want, can you?

DOES IT PULVERIZE? Yeah man.