For their second album ‘Infinite Wellness’, the Berlin-based Nordic twosome ULTRAFLEX have got naughty.
Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir first came together in 2020 for a sexy sport and fitness inspired debut long player entitled ‘Visions Of Ultraflex’.
Compared to their debut, the approach to ‘Infinite Wellness’ feature more variations in style while being pop and more experimental simultaneously. There is more of a Mediterranean feel but there are inflections of funk, soul and even jazz, but it is all pushed passed through the ULTRAFLEX filter.
With a dose of ingles, opening song ‘Relax’ is a crystalline and gently funky. salute to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ‘Baby’ though the song is about romantic endeavours although it is also all about ULTRAFLEX’s creative chemistry; the end result is a bright and breezy romp with a solid electro-disco backbone.
With jazzier cocktail grooves and “Mascara down your cheeks, Bacardi in your drinks”, ‘Rhodos’ celebrates those favourite sunny destinations such as Mallorca, Ibiza and Rhodes, inspired by their own experiences of avoiding sunburn, binge drinking and laughing at pasty boys with beer bellies.
With a fluent flirtation of body language, ‘Mi Vuoi’ featuring Italian performance artist Kuntessa places steel drums and sax chatter over a clubby trance house setting to display their faux innocence and devious charm. With a more R ’n’ B slant and inspired by Usher’s ‘Climax’, the soulful and moody ‘Melting Away’ is less boisterous and adds ULTRAFLEX’s girly club rap.
With chilled sea air vibes, ‘Ultrasex’ is a provocative play on the duo’s name with the resulting groove, saxophone and ‘wah-wah’ recalling a vintage erotica soundtrack. Meanwhile ‘Under The Spell’ begins with nonchalant spoken words but sparkles as our heroines get seduced.
Closing with the gorgeous sweetness of ‘Run’, the laidback cuteness gets its point across in just 2 minutes.
Balancing out their electronic template with more live elements like drums, saxophone and guitar, ‘Infinite Wellness’ shows development in the ULTRAFLEX sound while continuing with the coy playfulness that made their first album so appealing.
Nordic duo Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir had made music under their respective solo monikers of FARAO and SPECIAL-K but felt the need to move away from their more arty introspection.
Coming together as ULTRAFLEX in 2020, the Berlin-based twosome released a sexy sport and fitness inspired debut long player ‘Visions Of Ultraflex’. With their kitsch conceptual weirdness and ambiguously sexy overtones, it was groovy escapism set to an electro-disco beat.
ULTRAFLEX have described their new album ‘Infinite Wellness’ as “naughty”, with the saucy duo teasing their faux innocence on a record that features more live elements such as drums, guitar, bells and saxophone compared with its predecessor, although the high concept kitsch and coy playfulness are maintained.
If ‘Visions Of Ultraflex’ was their Berlin album, then ‘Infinite Wellness’ is the Mediterranean one. Their new single ‘Under The Spell’ is an expression of girly hedonism with a breathy seductive charm. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had a quick chat with ULTRAFLEX about their development from visions to wellness.
How would you describe the approach to ‘Infinite Wellness’ compared with ‘Visions of Ultraflex’?
More time, more attention to detail, more variations in style, more pop and more experimental at the same time. More is more ❤️
‘Infinite Wellness’ has much more of a Mediterranean feel, it’s very Italo disco, funk, soul even jazz?
Yes, our sources of inspiration for this album have been quite varied – during the recording process we listened to a lot of International Music System, Alessandro Alessandroni, Usher, Deniece Williams, Lijadu Sisters, Christine Lewin… we took our favourite elements from all of these different genres and pushed it through the ULTRAFLEX filter.
There appears to be more use of naturalistic sounds and guitar this time round rather than synthetic ones?
We wanted to balance out the electronic elements a bit and ended up hiring our favourite drummer Maggi from Iceland who recorded percussion for most of the beats on the album. Also, our friend Tumi came over and recorded some sweet saxophone and another friend Bjarní played guitar on a couple of tracks, channelling Enrique Iglesias.
‘Relax’ is a salute to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, how did you discover this dose of tingles and how has it improved your wellness?
We’ve been aware of the phenomenon for a while, although none of us had really gotten into it until we discovered these soap cutting videos on Instagram (especially hypnotising when hung over). The visual form of ASMR caught our interest and we really wanted to incorporate it into a music video as it perfectly captures the fine line between gratifying and gross – just as we want to do with our music.
‘Rhodos’ celebrates those favourite sunny destinations such as Mallorca, Ibiza and of course Rhodes, what is your favourite holiday of this type?
The only experience we have with this kind of holiday is when Kari went to Lanzarote when she was 16. She partied the whole time, stocked the fridge with litres of Bacardi Razz and Sprite, hung out on the beach with pink British people and absolutely in no way, shape or form tried to experience the local culture nor show respect to the people who actually live there. She had a good time but can’t really remember any of it.
You had a holiday romance and produced a ‘Baby!’, but what was this song actually about?
Although the song is about romantic endeavours, we realised afterwards that it is also about our artistic collaboration. It emphasises the importance of taking risks (otherwise “you’ve already lost”) and indicates that whatever happens tomorrow, we’ve got each other right now, and that’s what counts – the power of the moment is worth whatever the future brings, whether it’s happy-ever-after or heartbreak.
So what is the best way to flirt on the dancefloor?
It’s all about eye contact obviously.
‘Mi Vuoi’ means “you want me” in Italian, but have you ever become romantically involved with someone whose language you couldn’t speak, and they unable to speak yours?
Well, we’ve always been fluent in body language, so it has never been a problem 😉
‘Melting Away’ is very soulful, were there any artists you had in mind when producing this sound?
The song started out as a cover of Usher’s ‘Climax’, but it soon developed into a club rap version of the short story ‘The Husband Stitch’ by Carmen Maria Machado, wrapped up into a mashup between Spice Girls’ ‘2 Become 1’ and Madonna’s ‘Live To Tell’.
‘Ultrasex’ is a play on your name but also a quite provocative song?
Beyond the title, the song is innocent enough if you ask us. No lyrics and no moans, just pretty sweet, classy melodies. However the groove of it, the emotional saxophone and the ‘wah-wah’ effect on the guitar can remind people a bit of a 70s porn soundtrack.
‘Run’ has this gorgeous sweetness about it, how did it come together in recording and why is it only 2 minutes?
This was a difficult song to find the right production for as we kept trying to make it work with a pretty intense Italo beat – it took a while before we were able to leave that idea behind. By the end of the recording process, Kari made a new beat that was way more laidback and cute to fit the vocals. So much is happening in the chord progression and the vocals so we felt like 2 minutes was enough.
Your first shows centred around fitness, so how will songs from ‘Infinite Wellness’ be presented live?
We have a few tricks up our sleeves, you’ll have to come to our show to see!
What is next for ULTRAFLEX?
‘Melting Away’ is being released late September, with an ambitious video, and then the whole album in the beginning of October. We’ll be playing this fall / winter in Vienna, Paris, Hamburg, Trondheim, Reykjavík, Berlin and more to be announced!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to ULTRAFLEX
Those ULTRAFLEX girls are in the holiday mood and their latest offering ‘Rhodos’ celebrates those favourite sunny destinations such as Mallorca, Ibiza and of course Rhodes.
Icelander Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir and Norwegian Kari Jahnsen take their wispy electronic disco pop to the Aegean Sea for their own 18-30 holiday, inspired by their own experiences of binge drinking Smirnoff Ice while laughing at boys with pale beer bellies and avoiding sunburn.
As playful as ever, the lip licking video directed by Sigurlaug Gisladottir sees ULTRAFLEX enjoying themselves during what appears to be a cloudy day in Athens, “OK”.
With a desire to escape and party, ‘Rhodos’ was written at the height of the pandemic in Berlin with the girls “Longing after people yelling in our ears, everyone bumping into each other, stepping on our toes and the sensation of cold beer flowing down our backs. Writing Rhodos immediately transported us to a hot and sticky beach, a place we loved and loathed equally.”
‘Rhodos’ follows up previous singles ‘Relax’ and ‘Baby’ in the lead up to a new album scheduled for Autumn 2022. Their sumptuous debut album ‘Visions of Ultraflex’ was released in 2020 and won ‘Best Electronic Album’ at The Icelandic Music Awards 2021. Although FARAO and SPECIAL-K have been respectfully Jahnsen and Andrésdóttir’s artier solo projects, the pair are simply have too much fun together as ULTRAFLEX.
With their kitsch and conceptual dancefloor weirdness and ambiguously sexy overtones, ULTRAFLEX are back to provide some groovy seductive distraction from the troubles of the world.
The delightful Berlin based Nordic duo ULTRAFLEX are back and this time, they want you to ‘Relax’!
Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir had made music under their respective solo monikers of FARAO and SPECIAL-K. But they came together as ULTRAFLEX in 2020 for a sexy sport and fitness inspired disco debut ‘Visions Of Ultraflex’ as they felt “the need to stop being miserable and do something fun for a change.”
For their glittering new single ‘Relax’, the playful pair turn to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (or ASMR) for inspiration. During the worldwide pandemic and its prolonged confinement, the need to unwind was a given. Oddly satisfying videos of makeovers, making ramen, zit popping and playing with slime became popular as they triggered a tingling sensation on the scalp before moving down the back of the neck, providing calmness and relaxation in a number of viewers.
“Get your dose of tingles” say ULTRAFLEX about their ASMR inspired video for ‘Relax’, made in collaboration with nail-artist Lisa Mård, jewellery designer Margrét Unnur Guðmundsdóttir, make-up artist Jana Kalgajeva and cinematographer Ingrid Loftsgården.
For ULTRAFLEX, the audio and visual aspects to their art cannot be separated; they said to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in 2020 that “We felt like the music wasn’t complete without a visual universe surrounding it”.
So as ULTRAFLEX continue from where they left off, “Throw on a G-string and some high heels, find a bottle of body lotion and lather up whilst listening to the sound of bells, chimes, shimmery synths and authoritarian command / creepy psychiatrist order to take it easy”.
‘Relax’ is released by Street Pulse Records and available on the usual online platforms
A purveyor of neo-classical piano and synth, Robin Hatch is a composer from Toronto.
Primarily known as a classical virtuoso and a touring keyboardist for Canadian alternative rock band OUR LADY PEACE, she effectively leads a triple life. She had experimented with synths previously on 2019’s Wendy Carlos influenced ‘Hatch’ which featured improvised instrumentals using a Jupiter 8, Prophet 12 and Malekko Industries Manther. It was all very different from her debut solo album ‘Works For Solo Piano’ which also came out earlier that year and an eponymous piano only follow-up that came at the end of a prolific 12 month period.
Recorded at home during the lockdown, ‘Noise’ is unlike her three previous works as an avant synth record that incorporates vocals and drum machine. It is also presented with some rather raunchy imagery, although this amusingly offset by the wry use of a Ford Focus! By way of an ‘Introduction’, the opening track of ‘Noise’ does not deviate too far from the experimentation of ‘Hatch’ although it contains more pulsing rhythmic elements.
‘Trophy’ though brings in vocals although this is far from a conventional format of song, with Hatch expressing herself poetically over a sparse backdrop of drones, ring modulation and minimal machine percussion. Meanwhile ‘Hivemind’ is instrumental avant pop with hints of Berlin based Nordic duo ULTRAFLEX and their ‘Olympic Sweat’. The incessant synth bass, sweetened with the flute of Alia O’Brien, provides a tune with a marvellous cosmic groove.
Slightly more gothic overtones make their presence felt on ‘Heatstroke’ in the shape of baroque vocals in the manner of a deeper AUSTRA crossed with BAT FOR LASHES; the percolating drum machine pattern is reminiscent a more minimal ‘Pearl’s Dream’ and compliments the bed of bubbling electronics.
The excellent hypnotic instrumental ‘Lake Water’ swoops like a sci-fi odyssey driven using an understated rhythmic passage, while the delightfully odd ‘Planetarium’ chills hauntingly over a metronome beat. But then over eight minutes comes the mysterious sound sculpture of ‘The Mirror’ before ‘Tie A Bow’ closes proceedings.
Structured around rumbling drones, some exquisite synth tones are displayed as well as an honest weary vocal for Hatch to provide a superb introspective set piece of ‘Twin Peaks’ proportions. Despite its disconcerting title, ‘Noise’ is an intriguing esoteric adventure that showcases an inherent musicality and documents the beginning of a journey into more accessible climes.
Across eight tracks, it develops Robin Hatch’s avant garde inclinations into pop, not unlike the Ana Klimova character in the wonderful independent French film ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ that celebrates female synth musicians.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
is unlike her three previous works as an avant synth record that incorporates vocals and drum machine. It is also presented with some rather raunchy imagery, although this amusingly offset by the wry use of a Ford Focus! By way of an ‘Introduction’, the opening track of ‘Noise’ does not deviate too far from the experimentation of ‘Hatch’ although it contains more pulsing rhythmic elements.
Follow Us!