VILLE VALO (VV) WILL RELEASE HIS DEBUT SOLO ALBUM NEON NOIR ON JANUARY 13
2023 HEADLINE TOURING SET FOR EUROPE, UK, + NORTH AMERICA
Finnish Love Metal pioneer Ville Valo (VV) of HIM will release his debut solo album, Neon Noir, on January 13 via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/ Spinefarm. Pre-order it here.
“Neon Noir is a sonic step-by-step guide on how to survive, and perhaps even enjoy, the realm of VV with its abundance of things that go bump in the night,” says Valo. “It’s a teary mascara marathon between Robert Smith and Ozzy, with a dash of hope.”
NEON NOIR TRACK LISTING:
“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”
VV’s headline tour of Europe, the UK, and North America has already sold out across a number of cities. Get tickets here.
ABOUT VILLE VALO/VV:
In the annals of 21st century alternative rock history, there are few artists who cast a longer or more peculiar shadow than Finnish Love Metal pioneer Ville Valo. After all, his band HIM was easily among the most iconic and idiosyncratic groups of the millenium. Zealously revered, gleefully reviled but impossible to ignore, their music left an indelible mark on a worldwide legion of fans. The scarlet letters stood for “His Infernal Majesty.” Their founder stood for something delightedly out of step with the status quo.
“We only hoped to temporarily redirect hard rock’s blood flow from the nether regions towards the heart,” reminisces Valo, the singer, songwriter, and primus motor of HIM. Judging by the monolithic presence of the Heartagram in any account of music this side of the millennium, it’s apparent that he succeeded.
Inspired by everyone from Poe to Bukowski and tinged by a penchant for perfumed Sabbathian gloom, Valo’s creative lovechild would produce eight era-defining studio releases and over 10 million record sales, not forgetting a Grammy nomination, countless magazine covers, critical acclaim, and the veneration of a generation. Thus, it came as no surprise that the news of a farewell tour in 2017 was greeted with shock and disbelief among devotees and endless speculation as to what or who was to take up the velvet mantle.
“As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually, I decided put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howling together instead of barking at each other. That’s how VV was born.”
