On »Værmin«, Tara Nome Dyole experiments with her vocals more freely and across a wider range than ever before. She alternates between an angelic, sometimes sickly-sweet head voice and a rough chest voice which reveals the other side of her personality. Shifting between registers and keys, she explores this split in herself and attempts to befriend that which can never be reconciled. The songs tell a haunting tale of the toxic relationship of a couple that simultaneously need and despise eachother, caught in a downward spiral of devotion and submission. Over the course of their lovestory, they become increasingly bitter and irreconcilable.

 

»Værmin« explores how to live with unresolvable dissonances and recognizes the human condition and the nature of love in this conundrum. The work of the psychoanalyst C.G. Jung has continued to be a key inspiration for Tara Nome Doyle’s poetry: in particular his theory around human identity being divided between a »persona« and a »shadow«. On the one hand, you have the bright and conscious side of the psyche on the other, the unconscious mind, filled with all the parts of us which we have learned to suppress and that we will have to face in order to truly know and accept ourselves. There are parallels between this process of individuation and wanting to connect deeply with someone you truly love, yet never being able to bridge the interpersonal gap fully and reveal what lies hidden beneath the surface.

 

Tara Nome Doyle shines a light on this fundamental enigma in her lyrics but most of all in the way she uses her voice. The headvoice, the »persona«, is introduced in a clear C major; the chest voice, »the shadow«, over a melancholic C minor. The record climaxes in the outstanding, disturbing, exhilarating pair of songs »Vermin« and »Værmin« (Norwegian for be mine). Major and minor collide and resolve into an all-explanatory, yet disturbing dissonance (»Værmin«). The sweet and the rough, the beautiful and the – supposedly – ugly, the conscious and the suppressed: these pairs of opposites are presented in varying forms and images, to the point where the original motif of the love story can be understood as a psychological or even political viewpoint.

 

All the tracks on »Værmin« are named after creatures that – like the »shadow« – are considered to be undesirable pests: »Leeches«, »Caterpillar«, »Snail«, »Mosquito«, »Crow«, »Moth«, »Spider«, »Worms«. They are dismissed and labeled as »vermin«, in the same way as we dismiss and repress the unwanted parts of our psyches. But if you look more closely at these supposed pests, you discover their raw, unexpected beauty and the necessity of preserving them. Tara Nome Doyle brings these creatures out of the shadows, and in doing so also poses a political question in her art: What would happen if we »welcomed« the vermin instead of rejecting them? Wouldn’t we then arrive at a much richer, more balanced relationship to ourselves, a healthier relationship with the world around us and to other people? »Værmin« can be understood as a socially critical statement. It’s a work of art which cannot be reduced to its concept. Tara Nome Doyle tells a story which consists of a collection of fables, that shift and reflect on eachother like a prism. You can listen to the songs on repeat and always discover new details, new perspectives. They shimmer and blur, and if you try to look too closely, they slip through your fingers, floating back into the world they came from. They are both radiantly clear and yet always surrounded by an aura of mystery. They slowly unravel themselves over quavering drones before suddenly striving towards the light. They approach and retreat, gently trembling over electronic pulses and the resonant tones of church organs. They are held within in a framework of heavy drum patterns before breaking out and escaping into an oceanic expanse. Even as Tara Nome Doyle explores her own darkness – it is part of the magic of her extraordinary songs that her artistic self emerges all the brighter from the shadows. »Værmin« is a grand, wise, deeply moving album. The intensity it creates stems largely from its melodic power: Tara Nome Doyle’s songs immediately grab a hold of you and get stuck in your head. They evoke a particular state of unease, touching and beautiful, in which the music of this extraordinary artist is able to unfold its existential significance.

 

»Værmin« is available now on Vinyl, CD, as download and on all major streaming services. Enjoy!

 

Find »Værmin« here: https://taranomedoyle.lnk.to/vaermin