The Album Paranoia
The London-based psych-rockers’ debut is as hypnotic as it is adventurous. Ulrika Spacek were originally formed on a night in Berlin and there are traces of Germany’s psych heritage in the motorik pulses of *The Album Paranoia*. Across that rhythmic bedrock, their riffs cut heady, intricate patterns, and opener “I Don’t Know” sets the tone with guitars that skank, drone and chime against haunted vocals. Veering from the mantric loops and repetition, the capricious art-rock of “She’s a Cult”, and woozy ballad “Airportism” demonstrate that Ulrika Spacek’s sound is consistently beguiling–whatever form it takes.
Formed in Berlin in one night, 14-year-long friends Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams conceptualized 'Ulrika Spacek' and came up with The Album Paranoia as their debut album title. Moving back to their shared house 'KEN', an ex art gallery in Homerton in the summer of 2014, they began work on the project which was to become 10 track experimental alt-rock masterpiece The Album Paranoia. 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. 'The Album Paranoia' will be released on 5th February 2016, through Tough Love Records (EU) and Lefse Records (US).