Published December 5, 2005
Úlpa’s sophomore effort is a bittersweet listen, flowing surprisingly smoothly from the tortured screams of opener Sexy Dick to the shy mumblings of the title track. It’s also a surprisingly visionary album, not because of any bold sonic experimentation, but rather for its willingness to indulge in clichés generally forbidden by Úlpa’s indie rock ilk. The hypnotic melancholy of Go would never be so effective if it were at all originally played, and Girl’s lyrics are every bit as cheesy as its name suggests.
Attempted Flight is a forgettable if effective album that makes no attempt to expand on Úlpa’s earlier work, but rather improve and intensify. Also, it is exactly 40 minutes long, which can come in handy if you need to time something, you’re cooking and you can’t be bothered to check your watch.
For all its solidity and self-assuredness, however, Attempted Flight falls short in the end, never quite reaching its peak and eventually shoring out into the unmotivated modern rock trapping of its predecessor.
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