Carmen Villain
An artist and producer with an exquisite ear for layered atmospheres, Oslo's Carmen Villain makes delicately challenging music that has only grown more transporting with time. Her early albums as a singer/songwriter, such as 2013 debut album Sleeper and 2017's Infinite Avenue, combined experimental rock, dream pop, electro-acoustic meditations, and shadowy character sketches in shifting layers that were psychedelic in the truest sense of the term. The elongated arcs and detailed sonics of these releases hinted at the dreamlike sound-worlds of 2019's Both Lines Will Be Blue, which heralded the blend of dub, ambient, fourth world and kosmiche on 2022's Only Love from Now On.
Born in the U.S. to Mexican and Norwegian parents, Carmen Hillestad began writing songs inspired by the writing of Charles Bukowski and Mikhail Bulgakov and experimented with loops, vocals, and drum programming while working as a model. After deciding to share her music as Carmen Villain, she recorded her debut album at studios including Oslo's CSX Dungeon. During the sessions, she enlisted the help of Serena Maneesh's Emil Nikolaisen and Prins Thomas as co-producers, while she played guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, and drum machines. Arriving in March 2013 on Smalltown Supersound, Sleeper touched on influences ranging from Sun City Girls and Sonic Youth to Broadcast and This Heat. Villain returned with 2017's introspective Planetarium, an EP of songs blending field recordings with acoustic and electronic instruments that included remixes by Gigi Masin. That September, Villain released her second full-length, the hushed Infinite Avenue, which featured contributions from Jenny Hval, experimental house producer Matt Karmil, and Deathprod's Helge Sten.
After working with U.K. producer Parris on a commissioned project for the Ultima Contemporary Music Festival, Villain collaborated with Thomas and Chilean-Norwegian flutist Johanna Scheie Orellana on her third album, Both Lines Will Be Blue. A collection of structured and improvised instrumentals that incorporated field recordings, zither, and electronics in its soothing ambience, the album arrived in July 2019. The following February, a remix collection featuring reworkings of the album's tracks by Parris, DJ Python, Karima F, and others appeared. Villain reunited with Orellana for Affection in a Time of Crisis, a piece combining granular synthesis, field recordings, and flute that Longform Editions released in June 2020. That October, she appeared on the Geographic North compilation A Little Night Music: Aural Apparitions from the Geographic North, which also included Oliver Coates, Fennesz, and Lotus Plaza among the contributors. January 2021 saw the release of Sketch for Winter IX: Perlita, Villain's edition in a series of Smalltown Supersound EPs inspired by the emotional impact of winter. For her fourth album, February 2022's Only Love from Now On, she worked with Orellana and Arve Henriksen on expansive pieces that built on the approach of Both Lines Will Be Blue and the releases that followed
© Heather Phares /TiVo
Artistes similaires
Discographie
25 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes
-
Only Love From Now On
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 25 févr. 2022
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Nutrition EP
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 25 oct. 2024
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Both Lines Will Be Blue
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 12 juil. 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Music From The Living Monument
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 21 juil. 2023
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Gestures (with Arve Henriksen)
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 8 déc. 2021
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Both Lines Will Be Blue Remixed
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 28 févr. 2020
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Observable Future
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 14 mai 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Type
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 11 juin 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
I Trust You (Dj Python Remix)
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 30 juil. 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Borders/Red Desert Remixes
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 24 nov. 2017
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Infinite Avenue
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 1 sept. 2017
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sketch for Winter IX: Perlita
Ambient - Paru chez Geographic North le 22 janv. 2021
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
CV x Actress
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 8 juin 2022
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Subtle Bodies
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 27 janv. 2022
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
-
Sleeper (Deluxe Version)
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 11 mars 2013
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sleeper
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 11 mars 2013
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Planetarium
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 2 juin 2017
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Affection in a Time of Crisis
Ambient - Paru chez Longform Editions le 17 juin 2020
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Planetarium
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 3 mai 2017
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Borders
Électronique - Paru chez Smalltown Supersound le 15 août 2017
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo