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Only Love From Now On

by Carmen Villain

supported by
peter
peter thumbnail
peter a little jon hassell, maybe a little susumu yokota, but altogether its own thing. warm, humid, dreamlike, captivating — a perfect record for drifting in and out.
Jascha Narveson
Jascha Narveson thumbnail
Jascha Narveson I love the lush post-4th-world moody nocturnal atmospheres on this album - props for the loving detail lavished on the ASMR-inducing processed wind instruments, which twist around the stereo filed and in and out of the mix like fleeting shadows...

The first track might be my fave, but I'm really taken with how obvious sampler manipulation builds into the joyful (almost Steve Reich-y) minimalism of Silueta. Favorite track: Silueta.
Michael Upton (Jet Jaguar)
Michael Upton (Jet Jaguar) thumbnail
Michael Upton (Jet Jaguar) This opening track is so beautiful it’d be easy to miss just how good the album is as a whole. The insistent, ringing percussion and shimmering layers work so well with Henriksen’s playing. Easy to draw the dots to Jon Hassell but I also find it pretty distinctly its own thing. Subtle Bodies is another fave. Favorite track: Future Memory.
hexenductor
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hexenductor An captivating, mysterious collection of tracks that feels like an trip into some surreal (yet serene) alien dimension. Favorite track: Future Memory.
sounds and silence
sounds and silence thumbnail
sounds and silence Perfect night dreaming trip into the unknown. Favorite track: Gestures (with Arve Henriksen).
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Silueta 05:54
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Portals 04:21

about

"Richly textured and generously emotional, Carmen Villain's fifth album is a masterpiece of jazz-informed ambient and downtempo." - RA Recommends, Resident Advisor

“[‘Only Love From Now On’] [...] has a breathy jazz tinge across the electronic pastoral landscape she has meticulously cultivated”
- The Wire

«Tracks that are both enveloping and open»
- The New York Times

«The most dynamic, unpredictable album of her career»
- 7.8 Pitchfork

"Continues a run of near perfect releases[...] Carmen Villain is a world builder" - The Quietus

"A triumph of quiet beauty" - The Fader

A culmination of a build-up that began with a turn in sound evident on 2019’s Both Lines Will Be Blue, Only Love From Now On presents Norwegian-Mexican Carmen Villain’s aesthetic blossoming into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality.

If her themes are wide, philosophical, and occasionally abstract, the emotional tenor of Hillestad’s music is clear and purposeful. Makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz – flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder.

Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange. Partly it’s the contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Partly it’s the fluidity between instruments – such as clarinets – field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition. She calls the process a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making.

Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear. Hillestad describes it as “wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown.”

credits

released February 25, 2022

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about

Carmen Villain Oslo, Norway

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.

www.instagram.com/carmenvillain
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