Carmen VillainNO
Under that Latin pseudonym hides Carmen Hillestad, a half-Norwegian, half-Mexican artist and producer who has spent the last 9 years and 4 albums gently unravelling the song into the sound of emotional momentum. She has collaborated with the likes of Jenny Hval and Parris, while others such as Biosphere and DJ Python have contributed to remixes for her. Her journey is an artistic musical deconstruction, but also a spiritual growth.
Employing a panoply of instrumentation -such as woodwinds-, field recordings, studio, improvisation and careful composition, Hillestad invokes a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods -such as granular synthesis- for her music-making. The emotional tenor of her music is clear and purposeful. It makes sense that her key weapons are dub, ambient and cosmic jazz.
Carmen Villain arrives at MUTEK Barcelona 2022 with her fourth album under her arm. It is 'Only Love From Now On', a work released by Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound in February 2022 that presents Villain's aesthetic blossoming into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and totally exuberant in its sensuality.
