Ultraviolet (Kelly Moran album)

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Ultraviolet
Moran bathed in colorful lights
Studio album by
Kelly Moran
ReleasedNovember 2, 2018 (2018-11-02)
Recorded2018
Genre
Length44:58
LanguageInstrumental
LabelWarp
Producer
Kelly Moran chronology
Bloodroot
(2017) 		Ultraviolet
(2018) 		Origin EP
(2019)

Ultraviolet is a 2018 album by Kelly Moran, released on Warp. The album has received positive reviews.

Recording and release[edit]

I am trying to obfuscate exactly what the piano sounds like. The whole point is to make it sound different.

— Kelly Moran, 2018[1]

Ultraviolet is the first release by Moran on Warp.[2] Moran was inspired by the sounds of nature and tried to reproduce them on the recording.[2] She went to the prepared piano she has used on 2017's Bloodroot and improved with the instrument, adding synthesizer later.[1]

Music video[edit]

On April 8, 2018, Moran released the music video to "Water Music". Directed by Katharine Antoun, the video shows a montage of meditative abstract imagery: iridescent splashes of color produced by Turkish marbling, microscopic footage of cellular activity, Moran’s own face and hands, and an uncanny CGI blob. Andy Cush of Spin explained: "With deft editing, the visuals become more than screensaver-ish visual ambience, tracking the rising tension of the sounds with increasingly quick cuts between images."[3]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Exclaim!9/10[6]
MusicOMH[7]
PopMatters9/10[8]
Pitchfork Media7.6/10[9]
Tiny Mix Tapes4/5[10]
Under the Radar7/10[11]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Ultraviolet received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 from 10 critic scores.[4] Pitchfork Media's Philip Sherburne gave the album 7.6 out of 10, summing up his review, "The excess is thrilling. It’s here where Moran feels the most unfettered and uninhibited—not just balancing opposing forces, but reveling in their collision and savoring the way the frequencies fly, like raindrops buffeted by gusts of wind."[9] Evan Coral at Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album four out of five, with a review that is itself written in a post-modern style, highlighting Moran's inspiration from John Cage and emphasizing her innovation with a prepared piano.[10] Paul Simpson of AllMusicGuide also referenced her innovation at piano preparation in his review, giving the album 3.5 out of five, saying the work is "far more expressive than one might expect from an album of prepared piano music".[5] Regarding her inspiration to post-minimalism, Spyros Stasis of PopMatters ends his nine out of 10 review writing, "Starting from a minimal perspective, with a solitary piano as the main guide through this journey, she can awaken a pronounced ethereal and light characteristic, but further infuse it with a darker element."[8] Exclaim!'s Tom Beedham also gave it a nine out of 10 and contrasted the album's influences in his assessment: "Ultraviolet is indebted to the charm of the natural world, but with it, Moran unlocks dazzling new ones in the process, keys jammed firmly between the strings of her instrument".[6]

Accolades[edit]

Accolades for Ultraviolet
Publication Accolade Rank
Exclaim! Exclaim!'s Top 10 Experimental and Modern Composition Albums of 2018
8[12]
Gigwise Gigwise's Top 51 Albums of 2018
7[13]
Paste Paste's Top 50 Albums of 2018
40[14]
Pitchfork Pitchfork's Top Experimental Albums of 2018
N/A[15]
PopMatters PopMatters' Top 70 Albums of 2018
41[16]
PopMatters' Top 25 Electronic Albums of 2018
14[17]
PopMatters' Top 20 Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018
14[18]
Spin Spin's Top 51 Albums of 2018
33[19]
Time Out New York Time Out New York's Top 16 Albums of 2018
N/A[20]

Track listing[edit]

All songs written by Kelly Moran

  1. "Autowave" – 3:09
  2. "Helix" – 8:48
  3. "Water Music" – 6:29
  4. "Nereid" – 10:07
  5. "In Parallel" – 6:20
  6. "Halogen" – 7:15
  7. "Radian" – 2:50

Personnel[edit]

  • Kelly Moran – piano, songwriting, production
  • Dina Chang at Setta Studio, New York City, New York, United States – photography
  • Katharine Hayden – digital retouching
  • Heba Kadry – mastering
  • Lafont London – graphic design
  • Daniel Lopatin – synthesizer and additional production on "Helix", "Water Music", and "Nereid"
  • Gabriel Schuman – engineering
  • Tim Saccenti at Setta Studio – photography, creative direction
  • Chris Tabron at Red Bull Studios, New York City, New York, United States – mixing

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Ham, Robert (November 16, 2018). "Kelly Moran". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Weingarten, Christopher R. (November 2, 2018). "Kelly Moran's Trippy, Beautiful Piano Music". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  3. ^ Cush, Andy (April 8, 2018). "Kelly Moran "Water Music" Video". Spin. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Ultraviolet by Kelly Moran". Metacritic. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Simpson, Paul. "Ultraviolet – Kelly Moran". AllMusicGuide. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Beedham, Tom (November 1, 2018). "Kelly Moran Ultraviolet". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  7. ^ Devlin, Ben (November 19, 2018). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Stasis, Spyros (October 31, 2018). "Kelly Moran: Ultraviolet". PopMatters. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Sherburne, Phillip (November 5, 2018). "Kelly Moran: Ultraviolet Album Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Coral, Evan. "Kelly Moran – Ultraviolet". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  11. ^ Axeman, Stephen (December 18, 2018). "Under the Radar Review". Under the Radar. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  12. ^ "Exclaim!s Top 10 Experimental and Modern Composition Albums of 2018". Exclaim!. December 13, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  13. ^ "Gigwise's 51 Best Albums of 2018". Gigwise. December 17, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  14. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2018". Paste. November 26, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  15. ^ "The Best Experimental Albums of 2018". Pitchfork. December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  16. ^ "The 70 Best Albums of 2018". PopMatters. December 20, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Carr, Paul (December 12, 2018). "The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018". PopMatters. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  18. ^ Harrison, Noah (December 17, 2018). "The 20 Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018". PopMatters. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  19. ^ "51 Best Albums of 2018". Spin. December 12, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  20. ^ "16 Best Albums of 2018". Time Out. December 21, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.

External links[edit]

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