Uboa
OriginMelbourne, Australia
Genres
Years active2010–present
LabelsThe Flenser
MembersXandra Metcalfe

Uboa is the musical project of the Australian drone, ambient and noise rock artist Xandra Metcalfe. She began in 2010 during a period when Metcalfe experimented with doom metal textures and home studio equipment, and gradually moved towards noise, experimental and abstract compositions.[1][2]

Uboa's debut album Sometimes Light was released in 2010, followed by Jouissance in 2013 and The Sky May Be in 2018.[3] Her 2019 follow up album, The Origin of My Depression has been critically acclaimed.[1]

Xandra has collaborated as Uboa with several other noise artists including Slumber Kitty, Muddy Lawrence, Solus Varak[4] and has produced a split EP with Bolt Gun. Jenny Hval, Planning for Burial, and producers Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury's collaborative score for the 2018 film Annihilation have been cited as influences for The Origin of My Depression.[2]

History

Xandra lives in Melbourne, Australia. Uboa's music often reflects her struggles with her transgender identity, reflected in her music via the juxtaposition of emotional ambient music and harsh white noise.[5] In an April 2019 interview she described the sources of her mental pain as including "mistaken identity, failed relationships and inability to love, joblessness, boredom, structurelessness, psychosis...[and] anxiety."[5]

In February 2023, Uboa signed to The Flenser, which released The Origin of My Depression on vinyl for the first time.[6]

Music

In a very positive review of The Origin of My Depression by the critic Anthony Fantano, her sound was described as a "cerebral dive" into Xandra's most negative and intense feelings of being a transgender woman...via "intense feelings of abandonment...expressed through intense soundscapes...and walls of distortion", culminating in a wide expanse of styles and soundscapes.[1] Metcalfe has said of the album's sound, "I always associated sadness in music with sparseness, barrenness and quietness. I wanted to signify empty space musically. Hence why the harsh noise is few and far between, and I think a little more effective because of all the sparseness it contrasts with".[2] Comparing the two albums, Metcalfe has said "Originally I was worried 'The Origin of My Depression' wasn't "Uboa" enough because of how restrained and sparse it is as a record."

She describes the writing process for My Depression as having "little conscious intentionality, it was mostly an intuitive process of writing. Nothing was planned out, and a lot of the songs were improvisations refined into compositions, usually after several attempts. “Detransitioning” took countless attempts to get right, whereas “An Angel of Great and Terrible Light” came out of nowhere."[5]

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected details
Title Details
Sometimes Light
  • Released: December 1st, 2010
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
Jouissance
  • Released: October 1st, 2013
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
  • Note: Recorded between 2011 and 2013.
The Sky May Be
  • Released: October 18th, 2018
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Art As Catharsis Records
The Origin of My Depression
  • Released: February 14th, 2019
  • Format: Digital, Vinyl (2023 Reissue)
  • Label: Uboa
The Flesh of the World
  • Released: May 20th, 2020
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa

Extended Plays and Other Releases

List of albums, with selected details
Title Details
Coma Wall
  • Released: September 24th, 2015
  • Format: Digital, Cassette
  • Label: Void Worship
  • Release Type: Composition
Hook Echo
  • Released: July 27th, 2017
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
  • Release Type: Composition
Please Get Home Safely
  • Released: December 23rd, 2017
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
  • Release Type: Split EP with Slumberkitty
The Apple of Every Eye
  • Released: June 15th, 2018
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
  • Release Type: EP with Muddy Lawrence
Uboa & Bolt Gun
  • Released: June 4th, 2019
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Uboa
  • Release Type: Split EP with Bolt Gun
The Absolute
  • Released: July 10th, 2019
  • Format: Digital, Cassette
  • Label: Polar Wounds
  • Release Type: EP with Solus Varak
Dead Time's Broken Arrow
  • Released: November 4th, 2022
  • Format: Digital, Cassette
  • Label: hyperchaos tapes
  • Release Type: Spilt EP with vi a.

Awards and nominations

Music Victoria Awards

The Music Victoria Awards are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
Music Victoria Awards of 2019 Uboa (Xandra Metcalfe) Best Experimental/Avant-Garde Act Nominated [7][8]
The Origin of My Depression Best Heavy Album Nominated

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Fantano, Anthony. "Uboa - The Origin of My Depression". theneedledrop, 19 July 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019
  2. 1 2 3 Parr, George. "Xandra Metcalfe on Melancholia, Eclecticism and The Origin Of My Depression. Astral Noize, 11 March 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019
  3. ↑ "Interview #13". Archive Hate. Retrieved 3 August 2019
  4. ↑ Farmer, Boddhi. "Uboa and SolusS Varak: The Absolute". 4zzz. Retrieved 17 October 2020
  5. 1 2 3 Vellucci, Justin. "Interview: Xandra Metcalfe of Uboa (2019)". Swordfish, 15 April 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019
  6. ↑ Orzeck, Kurt (2023-02-17). "News: Australian Experimental Project Uboa Sign to The Flenser". New Noise Magazine. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  7. ↑ "Previous Nominess". Music Victoria. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Previous Winners". Music Victoria. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
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