ULTRAFLEX- KITSCH OF A DIFFERENT KIND

Pink, purple, baby blue and sugary sweet for fun.

Image by Blair Alexander

Interview by S(GBA) | 04.10.2022

In 'Under The Spell' a single released along with a video for their new album ‘Infinite Wellness’, we see the duo shiny, confident, neon in VHS video style. Their CTM performance looks like a modern aerobics session 2.0, her style meets the 80s paired with clean, sugary sweet and smooth from the 2022 century. They do their own thing right from the start. Out of the fun they had, the idea grows and enthusiasm degenerates into flex. Ultraflex to be exact. And as Ultraflex, Farao (NO) and Special-K (IS) step into everyday life with style and sugar. With the shiny, sexy and in love attitude, Ultraflex brings new flavors to the stew for their new album Infinite Wellness. This record follows their debut album ‘Visions of Ultraflex’ which was released in 2020 winning both Icelandic Music Awards 2021 for ‘Best Electronic Album’ and Kraumur Awards for ‘Best Album’, besides collecting nominations to additional international awards. The debut album also got the remix treatment from Telephones and DJ Sotofett.

“With a heightened confidence to be totally in it” and cool with it, the two have an extravagant visual and sonic identity. With a different kind of kitsch, the duo continues to grow into the role of pop divas.

"The main goal of Ultraflex is to have fun. That's our whole manifesto...fun is more valuable than success," though they're happy to let Bjrök's song 'Undo' bring them back to the carpet. When making music for the sake of fun, these two are a prime example of creative flexibility leading to success.

What's different this release? It's "just a different kind of kitsch." Read the full interview below. (Album out on Street Pulse - October 7th, 2022)

Ultraflex - Infinite Wellness

Street Pulse – October 7th, 2022

Album - LP / digital

In your videos on online platforms, we usually see you as a couple, in glossy, sexy, neon, furry fabrics, dancing together or doing everyday things. But when you look at it, it's a choreography, a performance. What's the idea behind that?

Good question. Being in a band is a very intimate relationship, somewhere between family, friends, work and even a romantic relationship. So this lover-like expression just happened quite accidentally and gradually. We don’t want to pretend that we’re a couple or appropriate lesbian relationships, but actions like for example dancing together and staring deep into each others eyes while performing is something that comes so naturally to us that we can’t really fight it. It gives us increased confidence to be totally in this together.

You are about to release your second album, the first one was already quite successful. Not only your music, but also the style and identity are a concept in itself. What is different from the first album and was there something you were eager to try this time?

The colour theme is pretty different on this one. A lot more pink, purple, baby blue and sugary sweet. A different type of kitsch from our last one. We got pretty into visual ASMR for our first track, Relax, so that was something that interested us and we’d like to experiment more with, perhaps live. Besides that, we were mostly excited to work with the people we chose for each song and the ideas for the videos evolved very much in conversation with them.

When was the new album born and how was the process with it?

We started talking about it already before ‘Visions of Ultraflex’ was out. In january 2021 Katrín sublet an apartment in Berlin for a month in deep lockdown and we laid down the groundwork for the 8 tracks on the album. After that we kept writing and working remotely + doing 3–4 week trips between Iceland and Berlin. Much of that time was spent quarantining in cabins with a portable studio setup. We finished writing around the end of 2021. Then it was time for the mixing, mastering, marketing and music video stage of the album, which is climaxing now with the release of ‘Infinite Wellness’.

There are many aspects of the original 80s music in the performance, the fashion and the music you work with. Why the 80s?

The 80s didn’t take itself so seriously. A lot of the disco/electro/boogie is fun and full of hope, which is something that is often missing in today’s music scene with artists and bands being pushed way beyond their limits by a ruthless music industry, impacting both physical and mental health. I guess we reached a point where we don’t wanna be sad and emo about it, and the 80s (and also 90s) is the perfect soundtrack for having a good time.

Do you have any role models from that time?

Loads! Sources of inspiration for ‘Infinite Wellness’ include International Music System, Cynthia Roundtree, Drexciya, Xena, Guerilla Welfare, Larry Heard, Elisa Waut, Clifford White, Ghibli, Galaxy 2 Galaxy… the list could go on!

Music from the 80s is weird, shrill freaked out and talks about daring topics and scandals. Which scandal and which topics do you write about? Especially in your now newly released album "Infinite Wellness“?

Oh boy, our topics are really not that scandalous when we think about it, what a shame. Or maybe they are, we just don’t think they are. Almost every song on the album is somehow about lust and sex, but never really that scandalous sex. Rhodos is about sleazy teenage tourists partying in Southern Europe, maybe that can be considered scandalous?

The friendship is very clear and it looks like you have a lot of fun and inspire each other. How do you know each other and how did you form Ultraflex?

It’s all fake. No, for real though, the main goal of Ultraflex is to have fun. It’s our entire manifesto. We met through common friends, while shooting the music video for Jae Tyler’s ‘Famous’ in Kari’s apartment in Berlin, directed by Katrín. Shortly afterwards we had the chance to write an Icelandic/Norwegian commissioned piece for some festivals and had so much fun doing that, we decided to be a band. It also helped a lot that we received a grant from the Norwegian Arts Council for the commissioned piece, which gave us time and freedom to do the work.

Björk said in a 2013 interview for the Polar Music Prize that in Iceland, because of the vast landscape and nature there, "there's a lot of room for you". I find that interesting and in some ways philosophical. I automatically think of the you she describes as my freedom to become. Would you agree with that and does that perhaps flow into your musical expression?

We agree with everything Björk says, lol. We are obsessed with her new podcast Sonic Symbolism, and her track Undo has become a mantra for us, something we put on if we need to relax and de-stress. It’s true, there is a lot of space in Iceland for all sorts of weirdos like us, but it depends of course on who you surround yourself with. There’s also a lot of people living hyper normal lives in the suburbs, competing to show off their status with shiny black jeeps and expensive looking hair. Sometimes that can be a bit claustrophobic, it’s very different from Kreuzberg in Berlin where Kari lives and Katrín was living when we started the band. People also have children very young in Iceland and at some point you become an outsider if you don’t do that. Reykjavík is after all a very small village.

Are there things you discovered about yourself while writing the album that you might not have discovered if you hadn't written it?

Our musical and cultural reference bank was way more narrow and focused for Visions of Ultraflex. By now our universe has expanded exponentially, adding many new flavours to our stew. We’ve faced some challenges, most of them being lack of time and resources, so we’re learning to navigate that. One thing is that we’re self-managing / self-releasing / tour managing etc + making a lot of music videos. Therefore sometimes we have to remind ourselves to “undo” as the Björk song mentioned above tells us to. Do less, in order to preserve energy and enjoyment, even if it might negatively impact productivity (and byway perhaps success). It’s an important lesson Ultraflex has taught us – that fun is more valuable than success. But of course, success can be fun too, hehe.

What's next for Ultraflex after the release of the album?

In October, we’re playing in Paris, Berlin, Oslo and Trondheim. In November we’re playing at Iceland Airwaves and most likely a show in London in December. Further than that into the future we can not yet see with total clarity.

Video directed by Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir Produced & edited by Ultraflex Filmed & graded by Blair Alexander Choreography by Selma Reynisdóttir Make-up by Elín Erna Stefánsdóttir Additional assistance by Thorbjörn Kolbrúnarson Special thanks to Magic Ice Bar ReykjavíkStarring Álfgrímur Aðalsteinsson as hot ice sculpture maker