Ultraflex Are The Ultimate Blend of Post-ironic Superpop, 80s Synths and DIY Aesthetics
We sit down with the blooming duo to chat about their DIY video aesthetic, their analytical studio approach, 90s music videos and Pino D’Angiò
As I discovered Ultraflex and got charmed by their work, I quickly developed a conviction; the duo deserves much more attention than they do, and soon you will hear about it if you haven't yet. While their first album ‘Vision of Ultraflex’ presented some more soviet-disco influences (in its music as well as its music videos), the newly released ‘Infinite Wellness’ brings its production to a more current, nearly hyper-pop at times, sound. 80s-referenced beats and synths shine brightly as the compositions travel through vibrant and funky electro, floreal soundtrack-y atmospheres and catchy pop refrains, along with lyrics that manage to feel tacky and thoughtfully deep at the same time.
Ultraflex is not only the latest post-modern experiment in pop music - Kari and Katrin shape up a whole world around their productions, made of tongue-in-cheek videos, glowing thrifty fashion and theatrical stage presence. As the interview went on, I learned how all these elements are not a result of casual fun but instead the fruit of many hours of work and a studied approach to cultural references and music composition. It is perhaps because of this that the duo manages to escape all passive solutions and shape uniqueness in each single music production, video and lyrics.
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Hi Kari & Katrin, thank you so much for taking the time for the interview. I would like to start with some background information for the readers that don’t know you. Could you present yourselves, first individually and then the Ultraflex project?
Katrin: My name is Katrin, I am a musician, artist, and filmmaker from Iceland. My main music project is Ultraflex but I also have a solo project called Special K and some former projects as well.
Kari: She’s also a fantastic director and just made a short film. Her short film was just nominated for the Swedish film festival Nordisk Panorama’! As for me, I am Kari and I am from Norway. My main project is also Ultraflex but I also have a solo project called Farao, with which I released two albums already. I am also a DJ and I run Street Pulse Records where Ultraflex is released.
Katrin: And she produces for other musicians as well!
So I am wondering about your roles in the Ultraflex project, I guess Kari you follow more the production part? Or is it mixed in this phase?
Kari: My main areas are beats, synthesizers… I usually arrange the synthesizers' soundscapes in the songs. While Katrin is usually in charge of lyrics and then we make vocal melodies together. Katrin is in charge of the videos also and together we make chord progressions and everything… In general, we are both involved in every part of the process.
Can you give me a bit more insight into your creative process? Before the idea of a new song is there, how do you approach the writing at the inception?
Kari: For me, I always start with the beats. When we make a new song we normally go away together, in a cabin in the countryside or something similar, to be away from people and more focused. Then my starting point is always the beat - sometimes I have a song I like where I love the beat and I try to create something similar.
Katrin: My starting point is usually the lyrics, we have conversations about what is interesting to talk about and references to other lyrics, or other short books and stories that we are interested in.
“In terms of genres, this kind of superpop music made by Cher, Spice Girls, Madonna is definitely an inspiration”
So you also write lyrics without the music being there yet?
Katrin: I usually do that. Both with my solo project and with Ultraflex. Mostly in my life as a musician, I always did that, it’s an exception if it goes the other way around. Sometimes I would first try and get some chords written and see if I can find something I can sing the lyrics on, and that starts the project. Maybe I will give the lyrics to Kari and see if she can do something about it.
I feel Ultraflex’s music is heavily influenced by 80s/90s pop and dance music, while at the same time going deep into stylistic nuances that can range from the most obscure American electro to flashy Italo-disco. I’m wondering what are some of your main inspirations.
Katrin: International Music System has been a huge inspiration in terms of 80s electro sounds. For instance, the beat in “Under The Spell” is very much electro-inspired.
Kari: In terms of genres, this kind of superpop music made by Cher, Spice Girls, Madonna is definitely an inspiration. Also RnB (Usher) and a little bit of hip-hop. There are a lot of Italian influences on this album too, in terms of Italian library and film music. The song “Ultrasex” was inspired by this song “Il Porto” by “Alessandro Alessandroni”. And also the song “Run”, the chord progression there is very inspired by an old composition by classical composer Albinoni.
Katrin: For me, another main inspiration is always this Estonian funk guy called Uku Kuut, he’s been a big inspiration for years. He has this amazing way of writing really corny beats and chord progression where especially the synth sounds are so corny and funny. It gives me so much joy to listen to it. It’s very humorous, although I think it was not intentional.
You can never tell from 80s music right? If it’s ironic or not right?
Katrin: No… It’s so funny to see pictures of him, an Estonian normal-looking guy making this insanely funky music in his studio. My mind explodes when I think about it…
Another big inspiration… Drexciya for sure.
“I love to copy a certain bit - I learn so much from studying a specific beat very very carefully. In the end, a lot of times the final result may sound like something different anyways but it’s such an interesting process.”
Katrin: My number one artist I cite as an inspiration is usually Jarvis Cocker from Pulp, listening to his music was the first time that I thought lyrics can be the center of a song.
Kari: Oh and on the last song “Run” of the album, the bridge is heavily inspired by this Italo track “I'm Looking for You” by Ghibli, it’s just fantastic. For this bass part for instance I really thought: “how do I make the sound exactly the same?”. Even more with beats, I love to copy a certain bit - I learn so much from studying a specific beat very very carefully. In the end, a lot of times the final result may sound like something different anyways but it’s such an interesting process.
So moving on to a different topic you mentioned before: Katrin, you mostly take care of the videos right? They struck me as a central part of the project. The music is fantastic already but I feel like the Ultraflex flair comes together with its music videos. What’s your approach to videos in general?
Katrin: From the beginning, we decided that we wanted to have the project as tridimensional: lyrics, the music, and the videos all getting equal amounts of work and attention. My background is in visual art; I have a bachelor's degree in this field and made a lot of music videos. We met when working on a music video for a friend in Berlin.
Kari: Our main goal is to have fun, and we try to represent that in the videos. They cannot take themselves too seriously, it wouldn’t make sense for us. They have to be humorous and cheesy.
I’d like to hear your thoughts regarding television as a medium, how did it influence your videos? I find it very interesting these days, with social media taking over as a central communication tool, how television is becoming kind of an antiquated media that at the same time still influences the 80s and 90s kids so much. It’s becoming fascinating to reference 90s music videos in this sense.
Kari: Well yeah, for our latest video of “Melting Away”, a big inspiration for that was Celine Dion’s “Think Twice”, where there is a man in a denim jacket making ice sculptures. So we took this idea into our video, and we’ve been talking about this idea for a year or two maybe.
Katrin: We’ve been talking about this since the first album, we were obsessed.
Kari: And finally we made it happen.
Katrin: We both grew up watching music videos after school, and there are also quite a lot of nice music videos made today with a retro-aesthetics. If you do DIY videos, they turn out better with a DIY camera instead of a high-definition camera. It’s just a good vibe and we love the texture of it… An artist that inspired us for music videos is for sure Erika de Casier; she just nails her aesthetic, the videos are quite DIY and tongue in cheek but also elegant and sophisticated. There’s also this French-American band called “For Real”, they have so much humor and fashion that we feel aligned too, with this kind of “thrift store” style but good-looking!
We would like to mention Okay Kaya as well as an inspiration, a friend of ours that made three videos for us - all of her videos are great and influenced us.
“Our main goal is to have fun, and we try to represent that in the videos. They cannot take themselves too seriously, it wouldn’t make sense for us. They have to be humorous and cheesy. “
I would like to ask also you about live shows - I have to mention I have never witnessed an Ultraflex live concert (yet), although I enjoyed your CTM performance which is uploaded on Youtube. I like the mix of a theatrical approach with the fun vibe you have, resulting in some kind of cabaret show. Can you give me an idea of what you aim for in live shows and their role for Ultraflex? Is it also a central part of the project?
Katrin: I mean, we started just before the pandemic so the live shows have not been a central part of the project so far. We haven't done that many live shows really. When we do, we like to do them all the way, and they are very important to us.
Kari: We try to think of it as a performance rather than a concert. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it an art installation, but it’s quite removed from the traditional concept of a concert. Also, we don’t have a live band. Who can afford a live band nowadays?
Katrin: We are going to have a live band for a concert in Iceland in November… But that’s because we have friends there who want to join the show.
I enjoyed the lack of a live band actually… I think there is something mesmerizing about just you two singing and doing a bit of choreography. I find it similar to a theater performance in some instances.
Katrin: I think we are very inspired by this Icelandic band called Cyber, they are two people and they have some background in theater, they have access to everything at the national theater in Iceland so they always have crazy costumes and props on stage. Very very cool performers.
Kari: Also this German-Norwegian band called ‘Easter’. When we played our second show ever at the Insomnia Festival in Norway, we went to see Easter and we were kind of blown away by the whole show and music. It’s just the two of them on stage and the computer. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is live. They even sing on top of the studio versions. And it just works so fucking well.
It reminds me of some television performances in full playback; everything is so removed, you even don’t really know what’s going on in there when watching. It’s just fascinating.
Kari: One of my favorite television performances ever was from this Italian guy ‘Pino D’Angiò’. I saw this performance of his ‘Okay Okay’ song, he sings in playback but in some weird way, just nails the whole performance.
Wrapping up the interview, is there anything you want to add? Are any projects coming with the release of the new album?
Go listen to it! We just released the last video from it (“Melting Away”) then we have shows coming up in Norway, in Iceland, in London, in Berlin, and then some more next year which we can’t announce yet.
