- A new project from one of Varg's favourite collaborators.
- Melina Åkerman Kvie, AKA AnnaMelina, has spent the last three years demystifying her sound. Her transition from downtempo R&B to stirring experimental can be traced through feature on Varg's Nordic Flora Series Pt. 3: Gore-Tex City and on releases through the pair's FLORA project. Melina returns to Northern Electronics with Ruin Walls, a cassette for her new solo project, Vallmo, that moves into darker, more compositional ambient.
The opener, "F U," wrestles with complex strings and swelling drums. The score reverberates in the ear long after it dissipates, making this one of the record's more haunting tracks. On "Dive," a childlike voice breaks through the static: "When you dive into the ocean and every single inch of your body is touching water, your feelings change."
Ruin Walls is the first time Melina speaks in English—rather than Swedish—on a solo release. A spoken passage seems to reflect her own sonic evolution, the mood intensifying as the kick drum hits on "Prison," only to dip again on "Dødt Udstiller Levende". It's not until "Young Girls Surrender To Powder" that Melina's soft, melancholic vocals vibrate above the light humming beneath.
Tracklist01. F U
02. Dive
03. Prison
04. Dødt Udstiller Levende
05. Not Even Memories Lasts Forever_Survivor
06. Time Is Measured By The Moss_Dust Of U
07. Young Girls Surrender To Powder
08. Blind