Ulver — Lyckantropen Themes — released 26/11/2002

Some of the past works by Krissy And The Ulvers that we’ve seen recently consist of a concept I have been particularly fond of for: making a soundtrack for a fictitious or conceptual movie. Well, for Lyckantropen Themes, they have graduated from making music for movies that do not exist to making music for movies that do exist, a major achievement for our heros. It’s like when you start having sex with human beings after decades of exclusive masturbation. So, before moving on, let’s have a round of applause to our boys for losing their virginity!

I of course watched the movie this music was made for — hell, it’s shorter than the actual album. So I reckon, why not open this with a mobie review? Very well: it was made by a certain Steve Ericsson, has a total runtime of 28 minutes and is available on youtube in midblowing 360p quality, with hardcoded EN subs. It covers a few days in a family of three where things between moms & pops aren’t going too well, presented from a moody, minimal and somewhat crooked perspective, perhaps that of daughter Rakel, who’s been kind of caught in the crossfire and seems to be as confused as her old man. Dialogues are few and far-between as much as they are dry and minimal, lending the whole thing an almost dreamlike feel at times.

It’s a remarkably cold and wet movie, both stylistically and narratively. There’s not a whole lot to work with, but the little material we’re handed proves itself surprisingly dense and almost difficult to parse at times — we don’t just see that David’s sad and angry and confused, we effectively see how he’s feeling. The inclusion of the lycanthropy theme might suggest a variety of different things: a more direct and direct one in literal werewolfery, which does get some quite direct representation; the idea of clinical zoanthropy, a condition where one, in a psychotic state, believes themselves a transformed animal, which then finally alludes, in a more metaphorical, holistic sense, about the potential for rage and unhingedness within each one of us.

I liked this movie quite a bit. It’s not too ambitious, doesn’t overshoot its shot and deals with the little material it has in a sensible and serious way. It sets out to do one thing, and does it quite well, imaginatively enough but also with focus and consistency.

DOES IT PULVERIZE? Much like David and his wife do to their own marriage, it mostly does.

Now, on to the actual music. Well, I’ll say it does definitely feel like a movie soundtrack, and a good one at that: everything feels cohesive and continuous, but not in a hazy, indistinct way; rather, each track manages to retain its own individual identity even as they bleed and transition into each other for pretty much the whole thing.

They’re not flashy or gaudy for the most part, as of course befits movie music in general, but definitely manage to lend more than enough mood and tension to the already quite dense film — the jittery, almost hands-down spooky beat and processing work in Theme 10 does not let me lie. It really does sound like a continuation upon the groundwork laid by the Perdition City — Silence dualogy segue, only this time more subtle and constrained — there is an actual movie going on this time around, after all.

I guess there’s not much to say about this. Synth and sample work is creative and varied yet consistent, and, much to my elation, zero Garm singing moments (I refuse to call him Trickster G, ok?). There are few memorable moments, but in this case I ‘d say that befits the general idea. The ambience has been kicked up yet another notch, with some frankly Ben Frost-esque moments all throughout (look him up, he’s really good), as well as some short bursts of almost William Basinski/Tim Hecker-ish raw force. All in all, good album, does stand up on its own irregardlessly from the movie it was made for, would jam again.

DOES IT PULVERIZE? Inside you there are two wolves. They are fucking. You are a beautiful, sexy, voluptuous werewolf.