The music of Canterbury duo
Ultramarine resists easy classification, drawing as it does from ambient, techno, folk, and eclectic '70s Canterbury art rock artists like
the Soft Machine,
Caravan, and
Robert Wyatt, who occasionally performed live with the group and appeared on their
United Kingdoms album. The group, which is made up of
Paul Hammond and
Ian Cooper, has a distinctively British sound and employs a wide range of instruments and sounds.
Hammond and
Cooper first collaborated in the avant-garde band
A Primary Industry during the mid-'80s. When that band split, the duo named themselves
Ultramarine and recorded
Folk in 1990. Their second album,
Every Man and Woman Is a Star, appeared in 1992 and earned praise for the duo as one of the first home-listening electronic groups. Sire signed
Ultramarine in 1992 and issued their first U.S. release,
United Kingdoms, the following year. Despite a high-profile collaboration with
Robert Wyatt (and with
Kevin Ayers for the accompanying
Hymn EP), the album practically disappeared both home and abroad. Nevertheless,
Hammond and
Cooper continued to record in a quirky electronic folk-pop vein for 1995's
Bel Air. Three years later, A User's Manual saw
Ultramarine's sound approaching the trip-hop/electronica mainstream.
–
Steve Huey, Rovi