Premiere: In Atlas – My Red Little Rose

Music

The artist and one half of post-punk outfit V.V.I.A. shares her debut album Venus Forever, created during lockdown.

Isolation was the only constant in her life these days. The idea of being surrounded by people or lost in a crowd were distant memories that seemed to fade even more with each new day that passed. She found herself living more and more inside her own head; her thoughts providing equal remedy and damage that she tried her best to balance. Her body yearned for human contact, and her mind for emotional stimulation, but when would that day come along?

In Atlas’ debut album came about in a period of detachment. The producer was residing in Athens before the pandemic began in 2020, and was making music as one half of post-punk group V.V.I.A., alongside her room mate and music partner Venus Volcanism. As 2019 drew to a close, the pair had finished their debut album and were ready to go on tour but then lockdown struck and circumstances meant they were separated, with In Atlas forced to stay in Copenhagen and her partner in Athens.

These were the conditions that motivated In Atlas to begin work on the album, which explored her feelings of longing, uncertainty and the beauty of platonic love. Weaving together elements of art-pop, minimal synth and punk sensibilities with her eerie vocal touches, she fashions an ode to her musical partner and dives into her fractured state of being without her friend by her side.