Perdition City

1. Lost in Moments
2. Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses
3. Hallways of Always
4. Tomorrow Never Knows
5. The Future Sound of Music
6. We Are the Dead
7. Dead City Centres
8. Catalept
9. Nowhere / Catastrophe

Perdition City (subtitled Music to an Interior Film) is the fifth studio album by Norwegian band Ulver, issued in March 2000, via Jester Records. The album was recorded and produced by Kristoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker, mixed by Ylwizaker at Beep Jam Studio and mastered by Audun Strype at Strype Audio.

Perdition City continues the experimentation heard on Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Metamorphosis, containing elements of trip hop, jazz, ambient music, spoken word and electronica, the combination being described as “moody”, “atmospheric”, and “cinematic in scope”. The album received positive reviews upon release, with Kerrang! noting, “This ain’t rock ‘n roll. This is evolution on such a grand scale that most bands wouldn’t even be able to wrap their tiny little minds around it.”

The Metamorphosis EP, issued in September 1999, showcased Ulver’s new electronic sound, delving into what would become the foundation for all future records. 

Now consisting of only two members — Rygg and Ylwizaker — the duo started to incorporate field recordings into their work. During the making of Perdition City, Ylwizaker would hang microphones outside the window of his 5th floor apartment to capture the sounds of the inner city streets.

Subtitled “Music to an Interior Film”, Perdition City, and companion EP’s Silence Teaches You How to Sing and Silencing the Singing, represent the transition to the band’s work in film scores, largely inspired by the results of electronic programming and digital sound manipulation they had experimented with during the recording of Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.