Sylvaine is the solo music project of Norwegian

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

multi-instrumentalist Kathrine Shepard. The project began in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

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

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

, for her third album, ''Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone'' (2018).

History

Shepard was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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 (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. 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 Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

. 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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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, pa ...

Alcest Alcest () is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (musician), Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, then became a trio, but members Aegnor and Argoth left the ...

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 Norwegian Grammy Award for best metal album, with Shepard becoming the first female musician to earn a nomination in that category. In 2019, Shepard 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 positive reviews from critics. ''Spiritual Instinct'' features Alcest live bass ...

''. In 2020, she released the split EP ''Time Without End'' in collaboration with

post-black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphas ...

artist Unreqvited. Sylvaine's fourth album ''Nova'' was released in 2022. In autumn 2024, she toured Europe, supporting Faroese musician

Eivør Eivor, Eivør or Øyvor is a female given name in the Nordic countries. In Sweden, 4,922 people bear the name. The average age is 78. The name perhaps originated from either the Proto-Norse word ''auja'', which is thought to mean "good luck", o ...

. Her debut album ''Silent Chamber, Noisy Heart'' was released as an anniversary version on the German label Eisenwald in November 2024, 10 years after its first release in 2014. Shepard is a multi-instrumentalist who can play guitar, bass, piano and synthesiser. Her influences as a guitarist include

Slowdive Slowdive (stylized in lowercase) are an English people, English rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitars), Rachel Goswell (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitars) ...

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

and Explosions in the Sky. In February 2025, Sylvaine once again toured with

, this time in Canada and the United States.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Silent Chamber, noisy Heart'' (2014) * ''Wistful'' (2016) * ''Atoms aligned, coming undone'' (2018) * ''Nova'' (2022)

EPs

* ''Time without End'' (with Unreqvited) (2020) * ''Eg Er Framand'' (2024)

Singles

* Abeyance (2018) * Mørklagt (2018) * Nowhere, still somewhere (2022) * Mono no aware (2022) * Nova (2022) * Dagsens Auga Sloknar Ut (2024) * Eg Er Framand (2024)

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) * Background vocals on Schammasch's ''The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sylvaine Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups from Oslo One-man bands 1991 births Living people