Ville Valo reveals how ‘contrasting elements’ of his solo album capture his artistic vision (exclusive)

Ten years. Here’s how much time has passed since then Valo Villa last released an album when he was part of the revered and successful gothic-infused melodic rock band HE. Four years after the band released their 2013 album tears on the tape, the members of HIM went their separate ways. Although Ville maintained a presence in the music business, he did not release a full-fledged solo project until the arrival of neon black in January. “What I think was special to me working on the new album was that, for the first time in a long, long time, I was able, in a very childlike way, to lose myself in the music,” she says. hollywood life on this collection.

“There wasn’t a lot of noise around me other than the music, and at least I was able to really lose myself in it,” he continues. “I would just like to forget the outside world and I think that’s very healthy. This is something you may have missed along the way. And again, with bands, there’s the noise of communication and camaraderie, and there’s always something endearing because that’s how it should be when you’re in a group of brothers who have known each other for a lifetime. . There’s more than just music involved.”

“But as for the new album, I didn’t have it,” says VV. “No one was calling me to tell me to pick up orders from Starbucks or anything like that, that’s part of daily studio life. So I was able to really get to the heart of it, but also the big bold strokes like why I’m doing this and what doesn’t necessarily motivate me, but what makes this whole combination work?

neon black It looks like a reform. The voice that helped define rock and metal in the late ’90s and early 2000s shines throughout the album. The album honed Ville’s natural charisma, focusing her signature songwriting voice into the loudest she’s ever been. The music is lovely, with a touch of humor and darkness.

He feels this album has led him to discover ‘why does he do it?’ “Oh, I think so because it allows me to do that,” he tells HL, “which means that music has always been a very merciful and incredibly generous muse. It’s how I see or hear the world and how I interpret it. And it’s always been mine, not necessarily a crutch, but a kind of helping hand.”

“Music has been my shoulder to cry on on many occasions and it has always given me a reason to wake up in the morning,” she says. “And I think everyone has one thing. It could be family, for some people it could be a job or a passion.” For Ville, it’s music.

He admitted that there was a time when “I wasn’t sure I could do that and make music that resonated with myself and anyone else.” He says, “I went back to that original kind of primal scream-like emotion. And I think that’s how it was [benefit] of COVID because without it they probably wouldn’t have pushed me into that corner and made me think about all those things, those existential questions. But then again, trying to find the positive in the negative.”

neon black it is a blessed marriage of opposites and contradictions. “In Trenodia” soars beautifully, leaving the listener in a haze akin to basking in the orange glow of a lover’s sunset. However, at the beginning of the song, VV sings, “High in the setting sun we stand, high in the setting sun.” It is, as he sings, “a love song for the lost and lonely / A monody for all hearts in love.” It is beautiful and melancholy, happy and sad.

While Ville has always walked in this space where these opposing forces meet, he says this time “there’s a certain ease, and you might even want to call it grace” with neon black. “It’s not forced. To me that’s how the album sounds. It doesn’t sound forced at all; it all feels very natural.

“A lot of times, especially when I was younger, when you have contrasting elements where you sometimes have that juxtaposition, it feels really forced. But on this album, for some reason, I think it’s very natural. And having those sometimes contradictory melodies come together with words that don’t seem to fit and create a new kind of perspective or a new realization is exactly what I was hoping for,” he says.

“But it’s not something I can do. It’s not a muscle. It’s not something I can do.” decide now i will. I’m not smart enough for that,” he says. It’s not a muscle, it’s not something I could decide that now I’m going to do it. I’m not smart enough for that. So I was pleased to find trinodia, the word that doesn’t exist.

“Trinodia”, shares VV, is an alternative to utopia and dystopia. “En Trinodia,” she says, is “a solo vocal piece, which is very sad. Then I thought trinody is my utopia, the world of a sad song. And that’s where we’re safe, and that’s where we stand high in the setting sun. We keep repeating it like a mandala, we keep repeating these truths and half-truths.”

“And so, in a way, I find myself quite confused with human beings,” he adds. “It has a kind of captivating quality. If the human species had superheroes, I think our super quality would be the ability to instantly screw everything up. And we figured it out, and we’re still doing it. It’s incredible. And I’m doing my best. I’m not older, it’s not how I want to be, but I’m too old for the barricade. My knees can’t take it anymore.”

“It’s like some David Lynch movies or anything since,” he muses. “I’ve always used it as a reference, or even a better reference might be Bounty Hunter. I thought about it because someone asked me if neon black It would be like a movie, what movie would represent that? I think Bounty Hunter it’s a good example and a good way to start a discussion because it incorporates so many different genres and does it perfectly. And the fact that it has heart and soul, which is quite rare in this type of film.”

“So there’s this Philip Marlowe kind of film noir going on and then this high tech stuff and all that. I think in that sense it’s a perfect film and in that sense maybe it describes something that maybe I didn’t know but still wanted to create in some way.

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VV has been sharing this vision with North American audiences since early April when he basically kicked off his first solo tour. When the month-long tour is over, she’ll get ready for Sick New World, the epic one-day festival in Las Vegas. sports System Down, Korn, Deftones and Incubus, the festival captures that late 90s, early 00s rock, with a sprinkling of modern artists: Tourniquet, Death Grips, Spiritbox, Frown – among some legends such as The Sisters of Mercy, Skinny Puppy, My Life with The Thrill Kill Kult, Killing Joke, AND KFMDM extension.

“We’re laughing about it,” he says. “Everyone I know who plays there laughs that everyone wishes they could set the schedule really early so they know when they can see all their favorites. So it feels like their shows are a sideshow there, but we’re fans too.”

“We play a lot of 50-50 old and new,” he says of his tour, how he’s played not only neon black but also some classic HIM tracks. “And then the set zigzags, then there’s a new song, and then we go back a decade or two, and it seems to work really well, and people seem to like it a lot, at least in Europe. So I hope it works in the United States as well.”

“The band is playing really well,” he adds. “I hope it resonates and that people hear and feel what we feel too. And it’s a tough job, I know, and it’s easier said than done, but we’re willing to give it a try and fingers crossed.”

Although this is most likely the case neon black has and will continue to resonate with fans of both HIM and the ‘love metal’ sound pioneered by VV; the album is already a hit in his mind. “I think the big problem with the album is that I managed to do it,” she says. “Not necessarily the kit, even if it’s good, but the fact that I succeeded because when I started it was a difficult task. And I’m very happy to be on this side now, especially coming on tour so I can experience those emotions with old time emotions with some of the HIM stuff. And it’s incredibly cool to be in that kind of headspace right now. The stars are aligned for some reason, I don’t know. But I want to keep writing this wave until it’s over.”

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