Ulesa – Ulesa (Album – Zoharum)
Genre/Influences: Ritual, Cinematographic, Experimental, Ambient.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Ulesa wants to keep their origin secret, the band unleashing this year a self-titled debut-album featuring six songs simply named one to six.
Content: The sound of this formation sounds as mysterious as their origins and identities. It however sounds pretty Ritual-like because of the vocals/chants, which rather sounds like ghosts lost in a sonic labyrinth. The drum sections accentuate the Ritual feeling. One of the characteristics is the trumpet play injecting an icy and somewhat tormenting touch. A few tracks don’t contain rhythms and sound more Ambient/Cinematographic-like.
+ + + : The sound formula is rather simple, but resulting from a creative process. The way the female vocals/chants have been performed and produced has something bewitching. It simply fascinates me as a listener and drives me into a hypnotic feeling when joined with the linear rhythms and the magic of the trumpet play. This instrument has something magic, injecting an icy, thrilling sensation. The second track sounds great while the fifth one has a true ghost-like effect.
– – – : There’re passages without rhythm, which is okay, but not the best exponents from the album.
Conclusion: Ulesa invites the listener to face the mystery, a great and enigmatic voyage, which can’t leave you untouched.
Best songs: “II”, “V”.
Rate: 7½.
Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum
About Ulesa
Ulesa is an anonymous project listed by Discogs simply as an ambient music project, with no members named. Its recordings appear on the Polish label Zoharum.
Zoharum released the self-titled debut on CD in Poland on 31 August 2021. Its six tracks are numbered “I” to “VI”. A second album, “II”, followed on the same label in 2024. Zoharum issued two further albums reviewed here in the same week, “Hissing Guilt” and “Stasis”.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
