uh

The music of uh - aka brother-sister duo Dominic & Fionnuala Kennedy - is as ecstatic as anything you can imagine. Seasoned savants of London’s experimental electronic music circuit, their wondrous coalescence of rave, pastoralism and futurism has left listeners blissfully stupefied over the years. Forged in the volatile crucible of London’s live circuit, their sound warms and exhilarates in equal measure.

On ‘pleroma’, their new EP for PRAH Recordings, uh live up to their reputation as much as they enrich it, augmenting acid-streaked euphoria with beatific, immersive atmospheres, anchored in ambient, synth-pop and finely tuned breakbeat. uh still make music ‘outside the box’. Much like their earlier ‘Seasick in Salts’ EP (2020) and ‘humanus’ LP (2023) all the tracks on ‘pleroma’ began as hardware jams, resulting in music with a flow state vitality; a rare spur-of-the-moment prowess. Veering fluently between BPMs, on soundscapes teeming with life, uh imbue ‘pleroma’ with the compelling naturalism of an unforgettable live performance. 

Encompassing a diffuse yet cohesive range of ideas, the EP’s rhapsodic opener ‘nostos’ emerged from an early improv session; an extraordinary scene of inspiration miraculously preserved, as if in amber. Effervescent choreographies of breakbeat percussion, spryly vitreous synth lines, and the soaring, pitch-contorted voice of Fionnuala, all swimming together, like some sinuous, sculptural centrepiece. 

‘i ate the light’ differs wildly yet feels akin to this overture’s tone and scale; a moving, windswept anthem of cybernetic falsettos, stately snares, and sweeping synthesis. uh describe the song as an expansive ballad chronicling a love story, from first meeting to ensuing heartbreak: “i ate the light follows a tragic love to the bitter end, evoking pathos and cosmos in equal measure. And yet it also deals in beginnings, recalling the dazed familiarity you feel when meeting someone special for the first time, like being caught in the moon’s orbit.”

Each track on ‘pleroma’ builds its own thematic world; the EP can’t be diluted down to a single idea. Its concepts and inspirations are abundant and myriad, exploring ideas of renewal through play, verdant Irish pastoralism, and ancient Gnosticism. The EP is suitably named after an ancient theological concept related to spiritual plenty.

Continuing with the live favourite ‘jungle parkway’ - like A Guy Called Gerald remixing Japanese ambient / environmental music - uh exhibit their lighter side with this penultimate foray into UK funky, trance, and video game music, apparently named after the duo’s favourite level on the N64 version of Mario Kart. It’s as fun and invigorating as that sounds. Closing with the delicate denouement of ‘i want my life back’ - a finale evoking a far-flung pop paradise inhabited by the likes of dip in the pool and Naomie Klaus - uh leave us with a seventh heaven missive, dissolving into a state of suspended tranquility. 

uh say ‘pleroma’ is not just a state of mind, but a real place. With these longform excursions of intuitive electronic music - comprising intricate, fervent assemblages of rave, breakbeat, ambient, synth-pop and more - we’re taken there, transported to a sublime, prismatic space which is willed into existence. On ‘pleroma’, uh are undaunted by change, wiser with experience, and now at home.