ATGCLVLSSCAP is as unbelievable as it is unpronounceable. Taken from a dozen live recordings, this improvised album was released as Norwegian experimental rock group Ulver’s twelfth LP. In retrospect, it’s clear that tracks on this album are re-imagined from their earlier works – ‘Glammer Hammer’ is expanded from ‘Glammer Box’ off their previous album, for example. Some may say this is a cop-out – recycling old material in a shiny new package – but I argue that this is Ulver in a concise retrospective under their most polished of guises.

The album is challenging and detailed without being pompous as many experimental and soundtrack-esque records are – the 80 minutes seem to pass in seconds as songs evolve and bleed into each other. This smooth transitioning is even more impressive when you realize the album is polarized into two halves; you’re batted back and forth between booming post rock and an ambient psychoactive trip. Even then, the album isn’t quite as black and white as that – ‘Desert / Dawn’ and ‘Solaris’ have hypnotic electronic elements against reverent hymns and church organs; ‘Glammer Hammer’ and ‘Om Hanumate Namah’ flaunt tribal drum patterns and chanting which are equally as mesmerizing.

You’d think with half of ATGCLVLSSCAP being ambiance, these parts don’t grab you. You’d be wrong – the dark, arrhythmic tracks like ‘The Spirits…’ and ‘D-Day Drone’ are often even more imposing than the post rock sections; where bassy, unsettling drones and whirring, aggressive noises leaves you locked in focus at Ulver. It is only towards the end where prominent vocals tearing through the wall of instrumentation – it’s hard to believe that the hard-hitting ‘Nowhere’ and ‘Ecclesiastes’ were mostly improvised, given the vocals so powerfully convey the somberness in Ulver’s music. ATGCLVLSSCAP is not an easy listen, but if a time arises when an epic soundtrack is needed in your life, you now know where to look.
Jekabs Jursins