Carmen Villain
delivered a major change with 2019's
Both Lines Will Be Blue
, an album that brought the gorgeous atmospheres and details of her music's 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 album's 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.
Love
's opening track, "Gestures," is a particularly arresting example.
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
,
's expressive use of space creates fascinating effects. On "Only Love From Now On," she puts the breathy whoosh of
Orellana
's 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.
's 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
's career as well -- though her path hasn't been obvious,
is a beautiful and satisfying culmination of everything she's done so far. ~ Heather Phares