Bleep

Smalltown Supersound follow excellent recent releases by Kelly Lee Owens and Prins Thomas with this latest bit from Carmen Villain. The two originals that bookend the EP demonstrate Villain’s knack for crafting expressive pieces that drift between traditional songcraft, ambient music and electronica. The eponymous ‘Planetarium’ spools out a woozy piano line and warm pulses of bass underneath Villain’s breathy vocals. ‘Safe’ is even more supine, coming across like Arcade Fire’s ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’ if heard from the other side of a festival site. The core of the EP gives us two remixes from Italian ambient O.G. Gigi Masin. While the first reworking eventually blossoms into a techno roller, the ‘Alternate Version’ is a beautiful and quiet thing stretches out over the course of seven-plus minutes.