About

Norwegian-Mexican artist/producer Carmen Villain makes atmospheric music made up of tapestries of field-recordings, woodwinds, samples and synths, culminating in her own distinctive, cosmic sound combining elements of fourth world, dub and ambient. She has released music for labels such as Smalltown Supersound, Geographic North and Longform Editions. Twenty-three minutes into her fourth album, at the outset of the antepenultimate track, we hear something we’ve never heard from the Mexican-Norwegian artist before: the buoyant pulse of dub techno. Even for listeners who have kept pace with her gradual transformation from indie singer-songwriter to jazz-inspired ambient musician, this might come as a surprise. But it confirms just how far Villain has traveled since the fuzzboxed strumming and narcotic vocals of her 2013 debut, Sleeper.

The turning point in this metamorphosis was her 2020 release Affection in a Time of Crisis, whose billowing, beatless shapes reflected the marble contours—and 23-second reverb—of the mausoleum where she recorded it. But even as her music has grown more abstract, she has simultaneously hinted at alternate paths that it might take, commissioning gently pulsing remixes from leftfield electronic musicians like DJ Python, Parris, and Huerco S. Their rhythmic energies feed back into “Subtle Bodies,” a high point on her most dynamic—and unpredictable—album yet.

The musical inspiration comes from dub techno of the 1990s—artists like Pole, Vainqueur, and Vladislav Delay—but her materials seem less electronic than elemental: dripping snowmelt, scraping metal, frosted air glistening in the morning sun. The album’s most complex, densely woven track, “Subtle Bodies” gives way to the record’s simplest: “Silueta” is made of ambiguously looped and layered woodwind sounds drawn out and processed electronically, twisting in slow motion like coils of ticker tape. This patient, meditative song feels as natural as breathing; one is struck by both its absolute economy of materials and the wealth she generates with them. After nearly a decade of music-making, “Silueta” is evidence of just how much Villain has stripped away from her music; for now, anyway, this feels like her vision distilled to its essence. — (via Pitchfork)

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Label: Smalltown Supersound
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 2022
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Abstract, Experimental

File under: Ambient / Experimental / IDM
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