ULVER: “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH … Now is the time for introspection.”

Norwegian Black Metallers, ULVER have posted this on their official website:

“We write 2012 and 1984 is a fond memory. It is dark and disorienting. The spotlight came with a dimmer effect and we find ourselves turning down good offerings. Now is the time for introspection.

Rites of Spring 2011, from Albion to Finlandia, Stonehenge and vodka. We like to mix it up. Elemental for an educated bunch. Queen Anne is dead.

And then came Autumn. Damnation had us sweating. We have said it before, and we say it again: festivals are hazardous, people and place being out of control. So, sorry about the grim faces, we will never be The Bee Gees. We learned afterwards that it sounded alright front of house, thank God – Chris Fullard obviously – and salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae.

Back on the horse. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece – the here and now of the declining West. Massive props to Kostas and the people at Didi Music once again, for upgrading us to Athen’s finest club, Fuzz, during revolts and recession. Also pretty special was performing deep under the Cidade da Cultura in Santiago de Compostela. What a place! And speaking of heavenly places, Teatro Regio, Parma, surpassing all:

Blessed be our devoted road warriors Chris and Alesh, for their extraordinary sufferance, and Seth the barefoot inuit lover McCandless.

We are truly sorry about the cancellation of our gig in Chile. It was the first concert booked outside Europe and synchronously the first we have cancelled. The United States of America: paramount paranoia, parsimonious promoters and outright impossible interest rates. European in theory, but very exclusive in practice. Sorry, but we think there might be something wrong with the politico-financial system you’ve got going there guys. Come down in the world.

Have you heard about Gandhi?

He ate simple vegetarian food and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest. Things to think about in the age of the wolf. Childhood’s End is near. Sixteen Sixties songs. Its arrival will end all war, help form a world government and turn the planet into a near-utopia. Doublethink. Every man and woman is a star.

There’s one concert this year: Roadburn, Tilburg, Holland. Since it may be the last one, for the foreseeable future, we plan to make it a frenzy – of the psychedelic kind.

For those who did not get to see us live: The Opera Blu-ray/DVD should be in the shop these days, long overdue. We apologise for the delay, it was out of our hands, in the hands of the factory. And while we think it could have looked great in Christmas wrapping, Kscope decided to pause further to run free of The Mormon Tabernacle Choirs of December. Read our and Mr Stig Sæterbakken’s summaries below, and check out Kscope’s minisite for further information, video preview and ordering.

Also, we have just released a deluxe double LP edition of golden oldie Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven & Hell, via Neuropa.