Ultraviolet is Manuela’s long-awaited second album: nine luminous, wry art-pop songs that shimmer with playful humour, lush arrangements and a strange, magnetic emotional pull. Written and recorded in Bavaria, the record draws on synth experimentation, 1960s chanson and the soaring drama of classic cinema, shaped by the echoing atmospheres of catholic folklore, morality and myth. Tracks like the elliptical synth-funk single ‘Hyena’ (inspired by a surreal short story by Leonora Carrington), the sweeping opener ‘Regrets’ and the spell-like title track move between darkness and delight with a deft, generous touch — music that feels richly detailed yet instinctively human.

Nurtured slowly over several years, Ultraviolet is, in Manuela’s words, “a living thing — it breathes and has emotions.” Produced by Manuela alongside longtime collaborator Nick McCarthy and Polina Lapkovskaya, and featuring contributions from close friends including Laetitia Sadier, the album radiates warmth, strangeness and quiet confidence. Its songs inhabit a twilight space between the physical and the unseen — a world of demon angels, poisoned beauty and tainted love — bound together by what Manuela calls “radical tenderness and optimism.” It’s a record to get lost in, returning something new each time you step back into its glow.

TRACKLISTING

1. Regrets

2. Hyena

3. Coniine (ft. Laetitia Sadier)

4. Lullux

5. Ultraviolet

6. Liar

7. Come

8. Sugar

9. Roses