About the tour
A strong duality between realms. A balance between the beautiful and the harsh, serenity and chaos, between an outside world and an inner world, between our human existence and the ethereal origins. Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Sylvaine’s music deals with the extreme range of emotions this human life has to offer, as a result of being in constant conflict with oneself and struggling to adapt to this place we call our own. The project serves as an emotional catharsis for the artist, revealing the eternal longing for something more residing within its melodies, capturing the feeling of being restrained by the human form.
For Sylvaine it was never a question of what she wanted to do in life. Music was always a fundamental part of her, something she could not live without, which made the choice of path clear. After many years of playing music, studying music and working in the music business, Sylvaine felt the need to create a more personal project, where she would be completely free to express profound feelings and troubles from within, without any artistic compromise. In 2013, she was ready to embark on a new musical journey, something that eventually led to the creation and release of her debut album Silent Chamber, Noisy Heart (2014).
Serving as the composer, recording engineer, producer and musician of all instruments herself, Sylvaine created her critically acclaimed debut only with the aid of her father Stephen Shepard on drums, mixing engineer Nick Terry and mastering engineer Ray Staff at Air Studios. Her self-release scored not only excellent reviews and interviews from international press, but also landed Sylvaine on a support slot for French shoegazers Alcest in South America in September 2014.
In 2016, her second opus was released thru French/American label Season of Mist in the form of Wistful – an album that showcased a more focused and heavier sound than previously shown on her debut, gaining her further praise and enthusiasm from listeners and music press around the world.
Sylvaine is the sole member of the project for the studio recordings, but is joined by three session musicians to bring her music alive on stage. In addition to playing selected concerts and festivals around Europe during 2017, Sylvaine and her live band embarked on their first European tour, together with Austrian post-metal outfit Harakiri For The Sky and Italian doom metal band Shores Of Null, receiving a warm welcome by the audiences in each country they played.
With the help of recording and mixing engineer Benoît Roux from Drudenhaus studio, session drummers Stephen Shepard and Stéphane “Neige” Paut, as well as mastering engineer Jack Shirley, Sylvaine’s third album
On January 10th 2020, Sylvaine released her first ever split EP Time Without End together with Canadian blackgaze outfit Unreqvited, thru Prophecy Productions. Time Without End features a softer, more stripped down version of Sylvaine’s music, letting her reconnect with her first compositional instrument; the piano. Later on in the year, a new single was released entitled “I’m Still Here”, continuing within a very simplistic, piano-based style, showcasing a highly emotional piece that was born out of all the turmoil present during 2020.
During spring 2021, Sylvaine finally managed to get back in Drudenhaus studio to record her 4th album Nova, together with Benoît Roux as the recording and mixing engineer and Daniel Lidén doing the mastering. Working through so many non-music related obstacles during the recording session, like when everyone caught Covid during the first couple of weeks in the studio, this 4th record took its shape rather slowly and was eventually released on March 4th 2022. Since then Sylvaine spent the following year touring all over North America and Europe to promote Nova, gaining the band new success worldwide.
