The brainchild of classically-trained instrumentalist Armand Carnelian Fortin (he/they/fae), MELVL now has an impressive string of releases under his belt. New release Lachrymal Heartflesh is no exception, featuring three expansive ambient compositions so breathtaking that you’ll lose yourself in them in no time.
These lo-fi recordings are capable of staggering beauty, but they’re also a poignant and cathartic expression of what Fortin went through last year, a time he calls “one of the darkest periods of my life.”
“I was living as a newly-out enby transboy, and my marriage had just ended over me living my truth,” Fortin continues. “My living situation was somewhat uncertain, my future looked bleak, and I was emotionally ruined and in so much anguish. One day I found myself home alone making painful, raw, lo-fi recordings as an outlet for my anguish. I originally had not intended for anyone to hear these recordings, but later I decided that I wanted to be vulnerable with my community of trans siblings and trancestors and share some of my darkest expressions of pain from living in a transphobic world. And so from these private recordings Lachrymal Heartflesh came to be.”
The album is being released today to coincide with the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day which honours transgender people who have lost their lives as a result of transphobic violence. Proceeds from the cassette release will go to the Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia, an all-volunteer and trans-led non-profit organisation of which Fortin is a board member, which aims to end homelessness within the Virginia transgender community.
Check out the album below, then head over to Bandcamp to pick up a copy.
Lachrymal Heartflesh is out today on Grimalkin Records. Order here.
Words: George Parr
