SILENCING THE SINGING

Moving from black and folk metal to instrumental and moody soundtracks, at this point Ulver had finally come out into an electronic style. When they released their acclaimed and excellent 'Perdition City', everyone was interested in where they would go next. However, during the sessions for that album, Kristoffer Rygg was experimenting around with taking things to a subtle and ambient place, and during that time, recorded music that was not intended for that album, but was to be released separately, mainly because of the ambient and experimental nature of the music. This music filled up two EPs and it was decided to release them in limited editions. Since that time, the demand to make them more readily available, the two EPs were combined onto one disc (called 'Teachings in Silence', again in a limited edition, which was later released more widely a few years later. However, the two separate EPs have since been made available for download in 2013 and are now easily available on Bandcamp.

'Silence the Singing' was one of the two EPs containing this atmospheric and ambient music. It is comprised of 3 tracks that together take up almost a half hour run time. It begins with 'Darling Didn't We Kill You?'. Even with this formidable title, the music is quiet, yet dark and foreboding. There is an unsettling beauty to the music, again all mostly electronic or processed loops and sounds. The music all works together to create a simple, yet somehow complicated beauty heard not just in the music passages, but the use of sounds and noise to give a unique and interesting experience. Even though some of it may seem random, you can't help but feel that it is all purposefully placed because of how well it all works together to develop the sound, and you will notice slow progression into alternative themes as it continues, slowly building a level of movement that never gets loud, but definitely gets more intense even so. The creativity is in the slow and repetitive nature of the music in the foundation, but also in the adding and taking away of atmospheric noises, clicks, hisses and so on, with a high pitched, but even hardly heard synth improvising softly over it all.

'Speak Dead Speaker' doesn't rely on a beat or repetitive loops like the first track, but is much more ambient, allowing itself to be carried forward by glitchy noises, pops and such while quiet violin and piano are used to create texture more than melody. This is one best experienced with headphones so you can hear the subtle changes in texture as at times, the 'drone-like' foundation that lays lightly on the background created by static can suddenly stop leaving you feeling like you are hanging in mid-air. But, as it can quickly stop, it can also quickly begin again while the phrased violin motif continues on gluing it all together. But the few times when almost all sound stops, the silence can be the most deafening thing about the track. Towards the end, the strings increase in volume as does what sounds like some kind of string drum. But, again, it never really gets loud, just more intense.

'Not Saved' is a glitch-noise masterpiece. A solemn organ keeps the sound consistent in the background, but the unpredictable noises are the centerpiece here, and they are used so effectively well. It's like some warning trying to break through the silence, and the scariest parts is when it just about succeeds. Along with this, a clanging bell chimes at regular (?) intervals, and even it gets manipulated by the mysterious force clouding over the entire thing. Again, headphones will give you the best experience here. When the sound fades, you think you are safe, but then it suddenly bursts through your speakers with a vengeance, the bell seems to desperately try to disperse the uneasiness of it all, but even their sudden increase ends up only encouraging the darkness of created by the strange noises going on around. This just goes to prove that you don't need heavy levels of noise to create dark textures, that maybe, just maybe, the silence and the ambience can be scarier than heavy blasts of noise. It's simply astounding.

This won't be for everyone because you might need a higher level of patience, but it is guaranteed to grow on you if you let it. It is also easy to get lost in the atmosphere of it all, and Ulver, somehow, created a masterpiece out of it all. It is one of the best recordings of its kind, and has even ended up being more influential to ambient/noise soundscapes than what it may have intended. This, along with the companion EP 'Silence Teaches You How to Sing', is one of the best studies of the use of music, noise and silence around, but you have to let it work on you to really feel and understand it.