Ulrika Spacek: The Album Paranoia 2016

 

Ulrika Spacek are an English alternative rock band, formed in 2014 and currently composed of singer-

guitarist Rhys Edwards, guitarist Adam Beach, guitarist-keyboardist Joseph Stone, bassist Syd Kemp and drummer Callum Brown. Edwards, Stone and White were previously members of Reading band Tripwires, with Williams having previously toured with the band as an additional guitarist and releasing material under the Viscous Liquid moniker.
                  

School friends Rhys Edwards, Joseph Stone, and Ben White have worked with each other in bands

since 2002. The Enigma Project was formed in Reading, Berkshire in 2002 by Edwards, Sam Pillsbury, and George Simpson with White joining soon after. Simpson was replaced in 2005 by Joseph Stone. They signed to Automator Records and released their debut single "Astronaut/Microcosm" in July 2005, plus the follow-up EP "Scenes of the 21st Century".
                   

In 2007, The Enigma Project changed its name to Tripwires and released the singles "Kings & Queens"

and "Just So You Know" the following year. The songs were picked up by national radio and championed by the likes of Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq. The same year the band performed on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals. The band began work on their debut album 'Spacehopper' in August 2010, and was set for release in April 2011 via Club AC30.
                      

However, the album was scrapped and the band parted ways with the label. The band recorded a

different version of the album in New York with producer Nicolas Vernhes, and it was eventually released in June 2013 via French Kiss Records. They self-released their second album Watermelancholia via Bandcamp in May 2015. The album was recorded in London and Berlin through 2013 and 2014.
                   

Citing influences that include Sonic Youth, Deerhunter, and My Bloody Valentine, England's Ulrika

Spacek deliver spectral sonic soundscapes via a decisive triple-guitar attack. Recorded at the group's KEN studio/HQ in East London, The Album Paranoia arrived in 2016 on Tough Love Records. The band's sophomore outing, Modern English Decoration, was released the following year, with the Suggestive Listening EP appearing in 2018.
                  

                     
Ulrika Spacek lost their KEN studio space in 2019, and interband tensions ran high ahead of the

unveiling of album number three. 2023's Compact Trauma, which added psych, noise, and Krautrock elements to their sound, featured a lineup consisting of Edwards, Brown, Stone, bassist Syd Kemp, and guitarist Adam Beach.
                   

Ulrika Spacek's soundscape has drawn assorted interpretations, a cross pollination of hypnotic fuzz, with Tom Verlaine (Television) and Stephen Malkmus (Pavement) guitar idiosyncrasies and intertwining feelings of both angst and melancholia. An amalgamation of their record collection,

influences range from Krautrock to Sonic Youth and the above. Taking a DIY approach to recording the album, the two Rhys' used a drum machine on the first demos, and then brought in three skilled musicians and friends to complete the live formula and re-record the album. The live phase unified The Album Paranoia and 'Oysterland', a series of club nights curated by the band, showcasing their first live performances with art installations.
                            

From pulsating hook-intense opener "I Don't Know", to heady, sky-high "Porcelain" and "Circa 1954",

The Album Paranoia twists and turns, taking you from lo-fi haze to profound hysteria in "Beta Male" and "She's a Cult" - the lead single that reflects a "blurry time" for the band, as the track distorts from thrashing guitars to tender melodic embellishments. "Strawberry Glue" and "There's a Little Passing Cloud in You" are road-trips fueled by hallucinatory, culminating on "Airportism", a delicately beautiful OK Computer-worthy finale.
                                     

STUDIO ALBUMS

The Album Paranoia (February 2016), Tough Love Records
Modern English Decoration (June 2017), Tough Love Records
Compact Trauma (March 2023), Tough Love Records

EPs

Suggestive Listening (April 2018), Tough Love Records
                          

Ulrika Spacek – The Album Paranoia
Label: Tough Love Records – TLV086
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: Feb 5, 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic, Alternative Rock, Experimental,

TRAXS

                               

01. I Don’t Know    4:35
02. Porcelain    3:58
03. Circa 1954    2:12
04. Strawberry Glue    3:32
05. Beta Male    6:20
06. NK    6:54
07. Ultra Vivid    4:14
08. She’s A Cult    4:21
09. There’s A Little Passing Cloud In You    6:55
10. Airportism    2:06

LINE - UP

Ben White
Callum Brown
Joseph Stone
Rhys Edwards
Rhys Williams

Flac Size: 271 MB