The other day when I was scrolling through Apple Music, this album came across my dashboard under the category, “Similar to House of Love”, and I immediately saved the album to listen to later. House of Love is a great late 80s/early 90s creative pseudo-psychedelic indie rock band, and have some really great music to check out if you haven’t listened to them before. That being said, I searched up Ultra Vivid Scene, seeing as I don’t know really anything about them. On this album, Kurt Ralske is the sole performer. Other things to note would be the influences for Ultra Vivid Scene include the likes of The Velvet Underground as well as The Jesus and Mary Chain. I’m pretty stoked to hear what this album has to offer, and with that I’ll jump on into the music.
“She Screamed” has a really fuzzy guitar intro that has me pretty hooked already. There’s that sort of high-pitched reverb with the vocals that reminds me of other groups from the same time like The Church or House of Love. I can definitely hear some influence from The Jesus and Mary Chain as well. It sounds very close to being shoegazing, but not quite there – the instrumentation isn’t confounded enough to be so.
“Crash” has a really cool fade-in introduction. The keys sort of remind me of “Baba O’Riley” by The Who. There’s a really high-pitched synth-y organ part that I’m really digging too. The lyrics have a really laid back feel to them, like they’re peering through the ethos to get a message through. I’m really digging this song right now. Oh wow, the guitar near the outro is really slick, almost like a wave in the ocean, but definitely isn’t surf rock, I don’t think.
Oh wow, I’m really digging “You Didn’t Say Please” right away. I’m almost reminded Spiritualized a bit in the way the guitar distortion is used, and I think there might even be a harmonica as well. The rhythm section of this song is super intriguing. Wow, this song is spectacular. It really evolves as the song goes along, but keeps the same musical tropes continuing the whole time. This song definitely feels the most psychedelic of the whole album so far, and I wasn’t really sure this album would contain any psychedelic sounds, but I’m really digging that it does. Wow, that acoustic guitar coming in near the outro of the song is awesome – it almost grounds the song in a certain way.
Oh wow, “Lynn-Marie #2” it feels like the rhythm section is going double time compared to the guitar portions of the track. It’s super interesting the way the bass is bopping along the way it is, and the whole time the guitar parts are sort of just slowly melting away in the background. The drums feel kind of pop-y, and it works super well with the tone of the song. The distortion to the guitar is almost kind of cheesy, I really dig it. The little guitar breaks have some great licks in them that have a dream-inducing feel to them. I love that the music sort of fades into the infinite as the song comes to a close.
“Nausea” has a super 80s feel to it – definitely a bit strange – with the keyboard synths, the tone of the bass that slightly sounds like it’s passed through an envelope filter of some sort, and the way the vocals sound to me. This song definitely has an awesome attitude to the whole bit, I really dig what’s going on. I’m really enjoying this album so far, it definitely contains some great music, without a doubt.
“Mercy Seat” is a bit softer right away, but comes in hard with that funky distorted bass, then really contrasting acoustic guitar really echos what the bass and the distorted electric guitar is doing very well. That distorted electric guitar definitely brings an almost shoegazing-ness to the song, which is further amplified by the distortion from the bass and the lead guitar part. Wow, the way the back beat comes in right as the bass rests every measure is spectacular. The acoustic is really jamming out right now as the song comes to an end.
“A Dream of Love” has some really 80s feeling drums to it with that almost hollow-sounding reverb of the snare. This song is a bit slower paced at the start, but the rest of instruments come in eventually, and the waiting paid off – as they resolve a lot of tension I didn’t notice was building up. Oh wow, there’s some relatively traditional sounding piano/keyboard that really brings a great flavor to the song. Really sweet tune.
“Untitled” is the bonus track from the CD release I believe, and it seems to be a very sweet, positive, quick moving tune that really has super juicy bass and great layering of the vocals in the track. What a solid track.
“Lynn-Marie #1” reminds me of “Lynn-Marie #2” from earlier, almost like it’s picking up where that left off in a way, but the kick drum is quite rapid, almost like a rapid heart beat of sorts. Wow, this one again feels like a Spiritualized track in a way with the dream-inducing piano and the light fuzz of the guitar, all coupled with really smooth, layered vocals with a bass guitar that lifts the floor of the song up. I really dig this one.
“This Isn’t Real” has a really smooth feeling to it all, and it feels like it’s gradually building up to something with the direction the chords feel like they’re moving, only for the instrumentation to take a bit of a turn and continue building tension instead of resolving it. The texture and timbre of the electric guitar is super tasty. Definitely a great listen.
“The Whore of God” almost has a folky soft-rock ballad feeling to it right away, and almost like some resolution is near. The vocals are almost a whisper – quite soft – as the ballad sort of sweeps you away into the soundscape. I’m super stoked about this album so far; it’s definitely shown a lot of range this whole album.
“Blood Line” has an almost shimmering organ introduction, but the bass and acoustic guitar make the song feel ‘of the Earth’ so to speak. It’s interesting, the organ really reminds me of stars in the night sky. There’s some sort of pedal steel guitar I think, that almost tie the two sensations together into a blissful, almost universal song. The vocals definitely have an ethereal quality in the way they’re layered and fade in and out of the instrumentation. The way it shimmers into the outro really ties the track up quite nicely.
“A Kiss and a Slap” has a very shimmering introduction by the synth/organ, but features almost a certain dissonance with the rest of the instrumentation – definitely an interesting contrast to the way the previous song shimmered. I really like the electric guitar – it almost sounds like it’s digging down into something, but at the same time almost spinning around itself in what it’s playing. This album is terrific so far.
“How Did It Feel” has an energetic 80s pop rock sort of feel to it, but the lead electric guitar has some really interesting complexities to what it’s playing that make the song even more interesting to my ears. Oh wow, the electric guitar parts are super tasty – they’re playing almost the same thing, but not quite, and are a bit offset to create almost a pseudo-reverberation on top of any reverberation they might already contain. The way the organs/synths really give off a shimmering effect is super sweet, and combined with the electric guitar, it almost sounds like the feeling of riding up a roller coaster – pretty awesome.
“Hail Mary” definitely has a different kind of introduction. It’s almost like sparks or something, or some kind of scant static at first, and is joined by some electric guitar soon after. Oh wow, this tune sounds like it’s from 1970 at the moment, and when the vocals come in, you almost have some late 80s shoegazing sensibilities come into play. I really dig the way the organ/synth and the electric guitar play off one another with the beat of the drums to make the song sound so incredibly cohesive. The static is continuing to increase is the song comes to a close, definitely a really sweet track that finished the album quite nicely.
I am very impressed at the moment. Kurt Ralske was the sole writer and performer on the album, according to Wikipedia, at least. I am very much going to check out more of his and Ultra Vivid Scene’s work soon. If you like late 80s/early 90s rock, particularly bands like The Church or House of Love, you’ll probably enjoy this one very much. I’m stoked I listened to this one tonight, and hope that you enjoy it at least as I did if you decide to take a listen.
-A