Manuela - Ultraviolet Manuela

The long-awaited second album by London/Munich-based artist Manuela Gernedel, Ultraviolet is a rich and cinematic collection of slanted art-pop songs threaded with surreal storytelling, shimmering synths, warped chanson influences and playful, emotionally charged lyricism. Produced collaboratively by Manuela, Nick McCarthy (Franz Ferdinand) and Polina Lapkovskaya (aka Pollyester), the album arrives eight years after Manuela’s acclaimed self-titled debut LP on Lost Map — a cult favourite that earned praise from Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, Drowned In Sound, The Skinny and BBC 6 Music.

Written and recorded in Bavaria during a period of personal and artistic reinvention, Ultraviolet grew slowly from synth sketches and cinematic arrangements into a vivid, dreamlike album shaped by “the echoey sounds of empty churches”, folklore, morality, surrealism and the strange emotional pull of twilight worlds just beyond ordinary perception. Recorded at Mastermix Studios in Munich, the album features contributions from an international cast of collaborators including Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), William Rees (Mystery Jets), Erol Dizdar, Luke Cyrus and Paulina Nolte.

Across its nine tracks, Ultraviolet moves fluidly between sparkling art-pop, elliptical synth-funk, swooning balladry and richly orchestrated psych-pop. Singles including the Leonora Carrington-inspired ‘Hyena’, the bittersweet duet ‘Coniine’ (featuring Laetitia Sadier), and the slinky, nocturnal ‘Lullux’ have already introduced listeners to the album’s intoxicating atmosphere — one equally informed by 1960s chanson, cult cinema, glam decadence and off-kilter DIY pop. In Spring 2025, Manuela supported Stereolab across Europe, further reintroducing the project to audiences ahead of the album’s release.

Ultraviolet also marks a continuation of the long-running creative partnership between Austrian-born Manuela and British-born Nick McCarthy, whose musical relationship stretches back to their teenage years in Bavaria before later collaborations in Glasgow-based cult favourites Box Codax.