I’ve been a fan of HIM and Ville since I was in my early 20s, and I got the privilege to see them playing live the first time they played in Chile in 2014. A show that I shared with two big fans of the band, my mom and my youngest sister.
The Singer
Ville Valo is a Finnish musician, best known as the singer and leader of the gothic rock band HIM.
The Album
After his successful band, HIM, disbanded in 2017, Ville collaborated with other artists. His solo debut album, Neon Noir, was released on January 13, 2023.
He started to create this album in the middle of the Pandemic, and since he couldn’t get any musician to help him due to the lockdowns, he did it all by himself. The album was fully written, produced, and performed by Valo.
Some songs are new and others he had composed a long time ago.
The music leans into a dark wave style, mixed with heavy parts reminiscing HIM’s music.
The name of the album refers to two contrasting ideas. “Neon” (bright lighting) and “Noir” (black in French), express this idea of darkness and light.
The album is dedicated to Ville’s girlfriend Christel and the cover is to mourn the loss of HIM’s manager Seppo Vesterinen, who died in 2020.
The Songs
1. Echolocate Your Love. It’s a song that relies on keyboards, a dark synth-pop style. Nevertheless, a good guitar solo brings the song to heavier parts.
2. Run Away from the Sun. It’s a beautiful love song. Acoustic slide guitar and Ville’s sweet, soothing voice that melts your heart.
3. Neon Noir. The title track. A little heavier. It has a HIM’s riff style. Ethereal, dark synth wave. Acoustic guitar that gives it a Spanish vibe.
4. Loveletting. Soft and sweet love dark song. Beautiful keyboards. Very HIM’s tone too.
5. The Foreverlost. It starts more on the rock side, and then it evolves to synth-pop.
6. Baby Lacrimarium. A sweet and melancholic love song. The acoustic guitar provides that mellow touch.
*Lacrimarium is a Latin word that means “tear”. It refers to a small vessel, that was found in Roman and Greek tombs, that was supposed to be for the mourner’s tears.
7. Salute the Sanguine. It starts sweet but energetic. Slide guitar. The keyboard contributes to that sweet vibe.
*Sanguine comes from Latin, referring to blood, the color red, or being optimistic and cheerful. So, Salute the Sanguine, could mean acknowledging what’s your passion, intensity, and love.
8. In Trenodia. It starts with an acoustic guitar. Then in the chorus a heavier guitar, but melodically going with the song.
* Trenodia comes from Greek and is a song or a poem of lamentation as a memorial to a dead person.
9. Heartful of Ghosts. This track has a dark 80s synth-pop vibe. It reminds me of Depeche Mode, a little electronic, but keeping the mellow melancholic tone of the rest of the album.
10. Saturnine Saturnalia. Soft, but with a distorted guitar that comes and goes. It ends with a dark lower tone guitar, and then it evolves to something more ethereal.
*Saturnine refers to a gloomy person, and Saturnalia to a festival or a party. And in the song, it’s to express the love to his partner during tough times. Love and pain in a complicated relationship.
11. Zener Solitaire. Instrumental. Unusual to put a track like this almost at the end of the album, but it works as a pause or moment of tranquility before the last song. Pretty. Keyboards. It’s not 100% instruments, because Ville uses his voice very mildly in the background with some chants, but without lyrics, captivating, ambiance sounds.
* Zener Solitaire is a type of telepathy card game where an opponent tries to guess what card you are holding.
12. Vertigo Eyes. The last song of the album. It’s a soft love song, with a bit of heavier guitar. It ends with a fade-out, making it a perfect way to end the song and the album.
Final Thoughts
The album gives older HIM vibes but is updated to Ville’s current style. Post-punk, synths, electronic elements. This is Ville’s debut solo album. He composed and played everything by himself during the pandemic. Any song on this album could belong to any of HIM’s albums.
Every song is about love, but in a dark poetic way, with Ville’s seductive voice. Just like the genre he inspired with HIM – love metal.
Ville added a lot of details to the songs, like tambourines, and slide guitars, to make them more special. Shows the effort that he put into the album and what a dedicated musical genius is Ville Valo.
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Tracklist
- Echolocate Your Love
- Run Away from the Sun
- Neon Noir
- Loveletting
- The Foreverlost
- Baby Lacrimarium
- Salute the Sanguine
- In Trenodia
- Heartful of Ghosts
- Saturnine Saturnalia
- Zener Solitaire
- Vertigo Eyes
I like =)
yeah, it’s a good album 🙂