Finnish Love Metal pioneer, Ville Valo (VV) of HIM, will release his debut solo album, Neon Noir, on January 13th via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/ Spinefarm.
“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.”
We can today share the album artwork and tracklist:
NEON NOIR TRACKLIST:
01: Echolocate Your Love
02: Run Away From the Sun
03: Neon Noir
04: Loveletting
05: The Foreverlost
06: Baby Lacrimarium
07: Salute the Sanguine
08: In Trenodia
09: Heartful of Ghosts
10: Saturnine Saturnalia
11: Zener Solitaire
12: Vertigo Eyes
Album & merch pre-orders for Neon Noir are now live, HERE.
Head to Kerrang.com to read their cover feature, in which Ville discusses the album in-depth.
Meanwhile, watch the video for the current single, ‘Echolocate Your Love’, HERE.
VV’s headline tour – taking place next year across Europe, the UK and North America – has already sold-out across a number of cities. Get your tickets now to avoid disappointment.
JAN – MAY 2023 ‘NEON NOIR TOUR’
EUROPE
13.01 – Tavastia, Helsinki (sold out)
14.01 – Tavastia, Helsinki (sold out)
15.01 – Tavastia, Helsinki (sold out)
14.01 – Stodola, Warsaw
15.02 – Studio, Krakow
16.02 – LMB, Prague (sold out)
17.02 – Huxley’s Berlin (sold out)
18.02 – Fabrik, Hamburg (sold out)
20.02 – Paradiso, Amsterdam
21.02 – Batschkapp, Frankfurt (sold out)
22.02 – Komplex, Zurich
24.02 – Razzmatazz, Barcelona
25.02 – La Riviera, Madrid
26.02 – Cineteatro Capitolio, Lisbon
27.02 – Hard Club, Porto
02.03 – Alcatraz, Milan
03.03 – Backstage Werk, Munich (sold out)
04.03 – Barba Negra, Budapest
05.03 – Arena, Vienna (sold out)
07.03 – Rockhal, Esch-Sur-Alzette
08.03 – LMH, Cologne (sold out)
09.03 – Le Trabendo, Paris
UNITED KINGDOM
10.03 – O2 Academy, Bristol
11.03 – Rock City, Nottingham
13.03 – Garage, Glasgow (sold out)
14.03 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
15.03 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
NORTH AMERICA
3/31 – Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia
4/1 – Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia (sold out)
4/2 – Big Night Live, Boston
4/4 – Roxian Theater, Pittsburgh
4/5 – House of Blues, Cleveland
4/6 – St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit
4/8 – Bogart’s, Cincinnati
4/9 – House of Blues, Chicago (sold out)
4/10 – House of Blues, Chicago
4/11 – Varsity Theater, Minneapolis
4/13 – The Summit Music Hall, Denver
4/14 – The Depot, Salt Lake City
4/16 – Ace of Spaces, Sacramento
4/17 – The Fillmore, San Francisco
4/18 – The Belasco, Los Angeles (sold out)
4/19 – The Belasco, Los Angeles
4/21 – House of Blues, Las Vegas
4/22 – House of Blues, San Diego
4/23 – The Van Buren, Phoenix
4/25 – House of Blues, Dallas
4/26 – Aztec Theatre, San Antonio
4/27 – House of Blues, Houston
4/28 – House of Blues, New Orleans
4/30 – House of Blues, Orlando
5/1 – Revolution Live, Ft. Lauderdale
5/3 – Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta
5/4 – Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville
5.05 – The Underground, Charlotte
5/7 – The Fillmore, Silver Spring
5/8 – Irving Plaza, New York
5/9 – Irving Plaza, New York
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 were 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 Ville 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 ten 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 to 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”.
