ULTRA VIVID SCENE - Ultra Vivid Scene

LP 4AD Records 1988
CD 4AD Records 1988 with bonus track



"Listen past the pretty facade of Ultra Vivid Scene to the barely suppressed screams within, and you'll find an admirably subversive mind at work. Whether performing techno-pop, ambient soundscapes or Patsy Cline covers, UVS wields the same breathless, desperate menace. For all its attempts to be perceived as a band, UVS is still essentially Kurt Ralske, a musical prodigy of sorts from Long Island who grew up on jazz and classical music. After quitting the Berklee School of Music at 17, he bought a guitar and began playing in rock, hardcore and jazz bands, moving to London with a group called Crash (which soon did). He then formed the first incarnation of UVS and hung out with members of the Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Loop before returning to New York and signing with 4AD. Ralske created the elaborate Ultra Vivid Scene entirely by himself, offering a disturbingly intimate glimpse into his evidently tortured soul as well as his considerable musical talents. The bittersweet juxtapositions - a beautiful melody with S&M lyrics, a bouncy pop song driven by hyper-distorted guitar - create a tension that jangles even the album's most sedate songs. Anguished yet never overbearing, soothing without turning complacent, it's one of 1988's best".
(Jem Aswad, Trouser Press)

"The first album by Kurt Ralske, a native New Yorker who spent stretches in Boston and London before signing to 4AD, is musically an intriguing and eclectic record that mixes pure pop and noise experiments better than any album since the Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy. (My Bloody Valentine was working similar territory at the same time, but Ralske's fondness for the pop hook, best heard on the first single She Screamed, was far more obvious.) The difficulties come when one pays attention to the lyrics, which are laughably pretentious in a way rarely seen since Jim Morrison's Lizard King heyday. (...) Still, ignore Ralske's mopey black-clad high school sophomore-level lyrics, which, luckily, is pretty easy to do since his voice is mixed fairly low, and Ultra Vivid Scene is a pretty interesting record with much to offer".
(Stewart Mason, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


Mercy Seat