Sylvaine is the solo music project of Norwegian

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

multi-instrumentalist Katherine Shepard. The project began in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 2013 and has released four albums to date. In 2019, Shepard became the first woman to earn a nomination for best metal album at the Norwegian Grammy Awards.

History

Shepard was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the United States in 1991 to a Norwegian mother and an American father before her family moved to

at a young age. She is a classically trained vocalist and received a bachelor's degree in musicology from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. The project's name Sylvaine was inspired by the word "sylvan" (meaning forest, woods) and the surname of French poet

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and ...

. Shepard self-released her first album ''Silent Chamber, Noisy Heart'' in 2014 after writing it in Oslo from late 2012 to early 2013. She moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France to write her second album ''Wistful'', which was released in 2016 on the label

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...

Alcest Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band membe ...

bandleader Neige played the drums on ''Wistful''. Shepard met Neige after an Alcest concert in 2012 and toured with Alcest in 2014. The third Sylvaine album ''Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone'' was released on 2 November 2018 and was preceded by the singles "Abeyance", "Mørklagt" and "L’Appel Du Vide". Neige also played the drums on the record. ''Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone'' was nominated for a Norweign Grammy Award for best metal album, with Shepard becoming the first female musician to earn a nomination in that category. In 2018, Shepard released the split EP ''Time Without End'' in collaboration with post-black metal artist ''Unreqvited''. The next year, she provided guest vocals on the song "L’île des morts" from Alcest's sixth album ''

Spiritual Instinct ''Spiritual Instinct'' is the sixth studio album by French post-black metal band Alcest. The album was released on 25 October 2019 through Nuclear Blast and garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. ''Spiritual Instinct'' features Alcest li ...

''. Sylvaine's fourth album ''Nova'' was released in 2022. Shepard is a multi-instrumentalist who can play guitar, bass, piano and synthesiser. Her influences as a guitarist include

Slowdive Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on drum ...

Neil Halstead Neil Halstead (born 7 October 1970) is an English musician, widely known as singer, primary lyricist, and guitarist of shoegaze band Slowdive. He has been hailed by AllMusic as "one of Britain's most respected songwriters", and '' Time Out'' as ...

and

Explosions in the Sky Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The quartet originally played under the name Breaker Morant, then changed to the current name in 1999. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elabor ...

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Silent Chamber, Noisy Heart'' (2014) * ''Wistful'' (2016) * ''Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone'' (2018) * ''Nova'' (2022)

EPs

* ''Time Without End'' (with Unreqvited) (2020)

As a guest

* Background vocals on

's ''Kodama'' (2016) and ''L’île des morts'' (2019) * Vocals on ISON's ''Meridian'' (2021) * Vocals on MØL's ''Diorama'' (2021) * Vocals on

Carpenter Brut Franck Hueso, better known by his stage name Carpenter Brut, is a French darksynth artist from Poitiers, France. He has released three EPs, ''EP I'' (2012), ''EP II'' (2013) and ''EP III'' (2015) which were collected and released together as t ...

's ''Stabat Mater'' (2022)

References

{{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups from Oslo One-man bands