Romantisme Noir, Arts Sombres, Doom et Black Metal

The Norwegian band Ulver’s sound has changed a lot over the years. Their first album was Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler in 1994, followed by Kveldssanger in 1995 and Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne til Ulven i Manden 1997. After that Ulver drifted away from black metal and explored many different styles and genres including electronic, trip-hop, ambient, experimental and others. Ulver’s latest effort is Shadows Of The Sun. I spoke with Ulver frontman Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg when he was in New York for the album release party. In addition to being Ulver’s frontman, Garm also runs Jester Records.

Chad Bowar:Was your latest album Shadows Of The Sun difficult to write?
Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg: We don’t write music, it just sort of happens. It always has to correspond to an idea or a vision. It was kind of tough. It’s been a tough year.

How would you characterize it compared to your last album Blood Inside?
It’s more honest. It’s a little less reactionary. That’s how it feels.

One of your bandmates has been studying classical composition. Did that have any impact on this album?
No, not really. It influences the sense of composition a little bit. If we have a primary instrument it is the piano. It may have a little impact, but it’s hard to draw a direct line.

What was it about the Black Sabbath song “Solitude” that made you want to do your own version of it?
It’s a song I’ve been trying to do for ten years. I like the song. There’s something about the lyrical content that is very appropriate for this record.

In addition to the regular CD there is also a special edition you’ve put together that can be ordered directly from the record company. What’s included with that?
It’s the CD, vinyl, a tee shirt and some other paraphernalia.

Do you have plans to do any live shows in support of this album?
We don’t know. I don’t think it will be an extension of the publicity work for this record. We are starting to rehearse a little bit to test the waters, but it is very hard for us. We’re not a band. We need to lay a lot of ground work to get that right. We’d have to hire people to avoid sitting behind the computer and pretend you’re playing. That’s our problem. We feel it needs to be interesting, and it is difficult for us to be interesting at this point in time.

You are also the owner of Jester Records. How is that going?
We had a really low profile year. The business is pretty hard to keep going right now without losing money. We had a modest year, but now we have a new distribution deal in Europe. We might pick up the pace a little bit and release some more records.

How much of your daily schedule is occupied with the record label compared with Ulver and your other musical projects?
It’s a 24 hour gig. I’m always in the office.

You’ve also done some film scoring in the past few years. Do you plan on doing more of that?
Yes, it seems we might do a rather big Swedish production this next spring. It looks promising, but we haven’t signed any contracts yet and I’m not at liberty to reveal what it’s about. But it looks like we might have a solid one coming out.

Ulver’s sound has changed a lot over the years. Do you ever see yourself going back to the black metal style of your early days?
It’s not something I’ve really thought much about. It’s our history. It was over 10 years ago we made something that could be categorized as black metal. For me it’s a little curious. We’ve released about 15 CDs and only about 2 of them have been metal music. But we’ve still got roots in the metal scene. So many people are doing that, and it’s not that interesting to me. We want to keep experimenting with instruments and sounds and taking it our way. It’s a different type of sensibility.