Only Love from Now On

才色兼備なアーティスト=カルメン・ヴィランが第4世界へと挑んだエキゾ・アンビエント作!!

かつてはスーパー・モデルとして有名ファッション誌の表紙も飾ったこともあるノルウェー / メキシコ出身のアーティスト / プロデューサーCARMEN VILLAIN。2019年SAKU 『BOTH LINES WILL BE BLUE』(SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND)で明確になったサウンドの変化、その後のリリース『AFFECTION IN A TIME OF CRISIS』(2020年、LONGFORM EDITIONS)と『SKETCH FOR WINTER IX』でさらに探求した集大成とも言える作品が本作。

ノルウェーの鬼才トランペット奏者ARVE HENRIKSENをフィーチャーした"GESTURES"は、エキゾチックでジャジー、ミニマルな魅力を感じさせるFOURTH WORLD AMBIENTに仕上がっています!

Carmen Villain delivered a major change with 2019s Both Lines Will Be Blue, an album that brought the gorgeous atmospheres and details of her musics margins to the forefront. Her subsequent releases for esteemed labels like Longform Editions and Geographic North found her blossoming into the instrumental composer that she maybe was always meant to be, a process that continues on Only Love From Now On. She holds together her fourth albums blend of dub, kosmische, fourth world ambient, and granular synthesis with the aural equivalent of world building: On every track, Villain creates rich, vivid environments with her melodies, textures, and everything surrounding them. Loves opening track, "Gestures," is a particularly arresting example. Villain is joined by Arve Henriksen, whose softly insistent trumpet drives the piece forward as much as the mesmerizing chromatic percussion, and longtime collaborator Joanna Scheie Orellana, whose airy flute helps lead the melody in directions that evoke shadow and sunlight, jungle and desert. As on Both Lines Will Be Blue, Villains expressive use of space creates fascinating effects. On "Only Love From Now On," she puts the breathy whoosh of Orellanas flute up front as a subtle rhythmic texture and lets a wildflower melody play out in the distance -- and as that flute melody reaches dizzying heights over a looming sub bass, it expresses the unpredictability of love as much as the rest of the track reflects its comforting warmth. Despite the changes in her music, the feeling of mystery within her work since her debut album, Sleeper, remains, with pieces as different as the elegantly flowing sci-fi synthscape "Future Memory" and the hovering, shimmering experiments of "Liminal Space" both offering intriguing spaces for listeners to explore. Villains ability to add the sounds and moods of nature into her music without losing their freshness is still one of her most appealing strengths, and on "Silueta," loops of strings and electronics ripple like a breeze through a field of grass. This mix of the natural and the surprising extends to Villains career as well -- though her path hasnt been obvious, Only Love From Now On is a beautiful and satisfying culmination of everything shes done so far. ~ Heather Phares