Carmen Villain

Carmen Villain, born Carmen Maria Hillestad in Michigan in 1983, is a Norwegian-Mexican artist whose music has moved from guitar-led shoegaze and dream pop toward ambient, experimental electronic and electro-acoustic work. Raised in Oslo by her Mexican mother and Norwegian father, she grew up playing piano and clarinet before working as a model.

Hillestad moved to London in 2005 and began writing music there. Under the Carmen Villain name, she has developed recordings built from elements including field recordings, flute, piano, voice, zither, programmed drums and synthesizers. Her work has been associated with ambient, drone, dark ambient, folk and psychedelic music, alongside experimental pop and a fourth-world-leaning approach to atmosphere and texture.

Her 2022 album Only Love From Now On received positive critical reception. A subsequent album, Memoria, is scheduled for release on September 4, 2026. Carmen Villain has released music through Smalltown Supersound.