ALBUM REVIEW: Ultrabliss – Mother’s Cake
On their fifth studio album Ultrabliss, the follow-up to 2020’s Cyberfunk!, MOTHER’S CAKE find themselves forging a new path for their sound. Melding psych and prog jams with a free forming direction, Ultrabliss attempts to find MOTHER’S CAKE liberated in their expression. Yet, laced with cinematic and musical references, the album at times becomes weighed down by its influences, and struggles to tow the line into a fully realised expression of MOTHER’S CAKE‘s sound.
Opening track Clockwork enters you into atmosphere of Ultrabliss with a cinematic authority. With synth waves and kraut beats, the track transports you to an intergalactic atmosphere. It recalls a sci-fi score, fittingly using to Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange as an inspiration. Its extended run time immerses you into the jam filled album, affirming from the get-go that MOTHER’S CAKE are artistically liberated and free from structure on Ultrabliss.
From this extended introduction, MOTHER’S CAKE move somewhat unexpectedly into a neatly tied up brit-rock inspired track. Feels Alright calls back to the indie sleaze era of bands such as ARCTIC MONKEYS and KASABIAN, with a chunkiness and a bounce to its groove that feels distinctly different from any other tracks on the album. Its energy is infectious, but it is difficult to separate it from the inspirations it draws upon.
Ultrabliss is laced with Easter eggs and sonic calls to other musicians and songs. Many will love hunting these down and spotting them as they listen. Yet, it does disrupt the album with a sense of derivation. It becomes difficult to get lost in a jam when you become caught up in catching each reference. Ultimately, it leaves the album feeling not quite as cohesive as it could be.
What does stand out however, is when MOTHER’S CAKE lean fully into their own path. Serotonin is a particular high point on the album, boasting larger-than life hooks and a catchy chorus. Its energy is palpable and feels like a big moment amongst the albums longer jams. Equally, Poor Boy offers a brashness that is not heard elsewhere in the album and stands out for its left-field approach to the sound on Ultrabliss.
The album’s through-thread however is that of psych and prog jamming. In their extended run times, tracks such as Love Me and On A Trip, immerse themselves into such jams. Fluctuating soundscapes, trippy solos and melodic builds find you losing yourself in the album’s grooves as opposed to its references. It is in these moments that ULTRABLISS sees MOTHER’S CAKE dissolving structures and paving their own way.
For an album that is devoted so intensely to the cinematic, its concluding track Into The Light fittingly builds to a climactic end. Yet, it is not clear what narrative has been told, and at times, risks being too weighed down influence. That being said, Ultrabliss does have some distinct high points, and some truly immense jams that, even if only fleetingly, will brilliantly find you lost in their orbit.
Rating: 6/10
Ultrabliss is out now via Embassy Of Music.
Like MOTHER’S CAKE on Facebook.