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Ulrika Spacek’s lyrics look outward – not by choice, but by necessity. Rather than their previous works which looked within, EXPO holds a mirror up to the world and captures a warped reflection. The songs were written this way because they were touched by the strange lands and minds of America on tour; because Rhys was awaiting the birth of his daughter and started to wonder about what kind of future she could inherit. On the dislocating “I Could Just Do It”, the lessons of the past left unlearned return to haunt us: “What prefab story leads you wrongly? / An old world warning, you don’t learn surely”. It anxiously blurs the lines between notions of apocalypse and observed reality; an indictment of how deep the rot has set in.
Musically, EXPO is a dialectic between analogue and electronic. Though their foundations are in the art-rock world - and though they are inspired by electronic elements more than ever - Ulrika Spacek are interested in the glitch that exists between the two. Their music reckons with human warmth and digital isolation, equal parts welcoming and altogether alienating. In many ways, the band express the tension which defines modern life. “Our music has always been a collage – a bit patchwork, sonically – but what makes this album a landmark for us is that we went one step further and made our own sound bank and essentially sampled ourselves,” the band says. They create their own doppelgängers in a world of almost-real, where the band appear as if in a hall of mirrors. Digital drums are sampled and layered upon real drums, and the effect is almost like birth in reverse - pulled from the ether and returned back to the tangible world.
Until now, the Ulrika Spacek sound was clearly defined across three albums. There was comfort in that, but there was claustrophobia, too. “Picto” marked a joyous beginning, the very first song to be written for EXPO where shiny new toys sparked new ways of thinking. They write as they record, and the question of how to play it live is a magic still-forming every time they tour. “Build A Box Then Break It” captures the spirit of EXPO’s creation. For a long time in its writing, they resisted guitars altogether, its panoramic sound propelled only by a chorus of drums and Farfisas (electronic organs manufactured in Italy in the 60s and 70s). Though fuzzy, modulated guitars found their way into the mix, they’re countered by the iconic techno synth Roland SH 101 which rules with ice. The tension between the two became the EXPO sound, unlike anything the band had done before.