Villain, Carmen

***CARMEN VILLAIN returns with the Planetarium EP, the follow-up to her 2013 debut, Sleeper. In the span of the last few solitudinous years, the US-born, half-Norwegian and half-Mexican has honed and nurtured her songwriting and production craft, while still drawing from the gossamer atmospheres of Sleeper. She weaved the hyper-personal songs in peaceful seclusion, creating starry tapestries of field recordings, piano, guitars, programmed drums and synths. The EP’s title-track, “Planetarium,” serves as the first glimpse into Villain’s upcoming album, due out later this year. Melancholic piano and long wisps of reverb create a cocoon of warmth in the otherwise cold and desolate outer space in which “Planetarium” voyages. Lyrically, “Planetarium” captures her typical contrast between rapture and irony, closing with a murmured coda recorded as she fell asleep one night. The EP contains the instrumental track, "Safe,” as well as two remixes by the Italian ambient veteran GIGI MASIN that seamlessly fuse Villain’s sound with his trademark avant-balearics.