Style: synth pop, ambient, experimental
Thoughts: I think I'm going to be taking out the themes section of my summaries. I find myself being redundant there with the information I put in the thoughts section. I'm redundant enough with this blog already so I think we're just going to forgo it from this point forward. It was a good run.
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I had almost lost hope for my favorite band. Too many albums in a row were the same style, and they were losing the one true trademark they had: evolution. Having largely maintained the same style since Julius Cesar in 2017 I was very cautions about going into Liminal Animals. The singles for the album didn't really do much for me either. But alas this is my favorite band so I gave the album a full listen or five when it dropped, and well... it's a huge step in the right direction.
Of course the synth pop is still here, that hasn't changed. The simple catchy verse/chorus structure dominates a large amount of these nine songs... and honestly if I had only heard the first song Ghost Entry I would think that nothing had changed for the band. But then A City in the Skies comes in and... it sounds just a little different.
It has just a bit more depth to it, a bit more ambience... it's just enough to get me curious. It's still super catchy synth-pop but man it doesn't immediately sound like Flower of Evil or The Assassination of Julius Cesar... which is incredibly welcome. A good portion of the song also delves into the instrumental territory, something that the band has almost all but forgotten about in the past two proper albums.
Where the album really starts to take off though is Forgive Us. This is Ulver. This is the Ulver that I love. It starts out almost with a jazzy structure with keyboards being the main instrument, but not in a synth-pop way. More like a jazz chord progression from a modal band in the late 60's. Garm's vocals are also a bit more emotive than the past few songs... the soul is back in the music.
Where the song really comes to life though is the absolutely excellent instrumental section at the end. This hearkens back to my favorite albums from the band: Svidd Neger and Perdition City. These subtle ambient filled moments with sparse melodies littering the background. The trumpet in particular is always a favorite of mine and it is used to maximum effect throughout this excellent song. My favorite Ulver track in literally years.
The experimentation continues with Nocturne #1, a full on instrumental. I thought the band had forgotten how to write them, but no! They are back full force. The instrumental rounds out the first half of the album nearly perfectly.
Of course not all is well in the land of Ulver as we still have moments that recall the poor previous album - Locusts and Hollywood Babylon are the lead singles off the album and they are honestly forgettable. They call back to the synth-pop cancer that was growing in the band for all those years and I'm honestly sick of it at this point.
The Red Light is a bit more palatable but still maintains that synth-pop feel to it. It does have a darker tone to it and drops all the playful elements of the past few songs, so I feel it's at least a worthy inclusion.
The final moments of the album though the band goes back to my beloved experimentation. Nocturne #2 and Helian are both instrumentals (kind of - there's a lot of spoken word in Helian) and they bring back that feel of not knowing where the band is going to go next. I absolutely love this feeling, even if the tracks are not as strong as they could be, their inclusion is hugely significant.
So Liminal Animals is complete and with it my hope that the band can become what they once were: an evolving enigma that will release whatever the hell they want. These past few albums have not been individually disappointing (except for Flower of Evil), but the overall trend had me very worried. The fact that the band has gone back to some true experimentation on here gives me a glimmer of hope that they can regain their former glory. For the first time in a long while I can finally say: I'm looking forward to seeing where Ulver goes next.
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