Style: Ambient, synthwave, progressive electronic (Instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Oneohtrix Point Never, Aphex Twin, Massive Attack
Country: Norway
Release date: 31 December 2025

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T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is a call for both internal and external renewal—published at a time of great political uncertainty and unrest in Eliot’s personal life, the Modernist classic is grounded by the folkloric trope of the cycle of death and rebirth. Neverland, the latest release by Norwegian musical chameleons Ulver, is a testament to this cycle. In a moment of turmoil for the group at the passing of long-time bandmember Tore Ylwisaker, Neverland is introduced by laying their friend to rest with a quote from The Waste Land’s “I. Burial of the Dead”. Pulsating electronics back a portentous voice inviting you under the only shelter in a desolate land, a red rock where one can behold ‘fear in a handful of dust’.

The union of poetry and music is nothing new for Ulver: their fourth album—and first with Ylwisaker—was a reimagining of William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Whereas the William Blake record was intense, scattered, and quirky, Neverland betrays a sense of existential dread and wistfulness. Song titles like “Hark! Hark! The Dogs Bark!”, “Pandora’s Box”, and “They’re Coming! The Birds!” imply a dark prophetic undercurrent in the record’s ominous, skittering electronic beats and introspective ambient moments.

Neverland’s more subdued pieces utilize heartbreaking keyboards to conjure a somber atmosphere. “Weeping Stone” delicately floats along beds of ephemeral digital blips, despondent synth arpeggios, and a voice that reverberates faintly like a ghost watching over the listener. The track’s glitchy electronics imply an effort at manifesting into a full beat, yet there just isn’t enough energy or will to muster into a cogent rhythm. In similar form, “Horses of the Plough” is a hazy, buzzy, and somewhat industrial ambient aside which yearns for a more pastoral existence among meandering, chopped synthesizer work and faint, otherworldly neighing.

Underneath Neverland’s existential dread, however, is a somewhat defiant compositional nature. Eliot’s showcase of death and decay is repurposed into a tool of transformation as Ulver take it upon themselves to invoke their own spiritual rebirth. Even the title Neverland can be seen as a subversion of The Waste Land, transcending lifeless barrens through the evocation of a vibrant, fantastical world. Additionally, themes of nature are scattered throughout the record through the use of animal sounds (“Horses of the Plough”), live instrumentation (“Hark! Hark! The Dogs Bark!”), and the sounds of running water (“Fear in a Handful of Dust”).

The record’s more upbeat tracks incite a sense of excitement and drama. “They’re Coming! The Birds!” begins with wobbly synth work that develops a laser-sharp focus as the song evolves an energetic fast-paced beat. “Hark! Hark! The Dogs Bark!” is cemented by a monstrous stop-and-start groove that continues to mount in intensity through dynamics and persistent layering. “People of the Hills” attempts to float away on hypnotic arpeggios, but is grounded by thumping bass lines and straightforward, kinetic drum work.

Neverland wavers between subtle ambience and upbeat groove across its runtime, centralizing itself with a rich textural vocabulary. “Pandora’s Box” scrapes at its inner walls with scratchy electronic blips before a swinging, percussive beat bursts the box wide open. Closer “Fire in the End” begins with a simple one-two beat but the gaps are filled in by haunting keyboards, shifty echoing percussion, and glimmers of piano. “Hark! Hark! The Dogs Bark!” even utilizes negative space as texture, stuttering across distorted flutes and crunchy, barking percussion.

Much of the record focuses heavily on texture, relying more on moment-to-moment exploration over traditional songwriting. As a consequence, Neverland can feel a bit scattered and unfocused at times. While this may be an intentional nod to The Waste Land’s scattered prose, the approach leaves me wanting just a little bit more structure. The closing tracks “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Fire in the End” are both excellent, lively, and emotional pieces, but the record starts to lose steam before it reaches them.

Neverland is a vessel for Ulver’s rebirth, signaling both the end of an era accompanied by a longtime friend and a confident step into new territory. At times, the record is fragmentary and disoriented; at others, it’s cathartic and forceful. While the occasional emphasis on texture over structure is a slight detriment, Neverland’s somber ambient sections and absolutely killer grooves posit the record as an emotionally compelling, rhythmically engaging, and sonically rich opus.

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Recommended tracks: Hark! Hark! The Dogs Bark!, Fear in a Handful of Dust, Fire in the End
You may also like: i Häxa, Double Mute, -ii-
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Facebook | Instagram

Label: House of Mythology

Ulver is:
– Kristoffer Rygg: drums, percussion, electronics, synthesizer, vocals
– Ole Alexander Halstensgård: programming, electronics, synthesizer
– Anders Møller: percussion, drums
– Jørn H. Sværen: synthesizer
– Stian Westerhus: guitar, bass
With guests:
– Sara Khorami: whispers and voices (recorded at 4 a.m.)