Jenny Hval

★★★★ Classic Objects 4AD. CD/DL/LP

Norwegian cross-discipline artist’s disconcerting examination of a life lived.

On its surface, Classic Objects comes across as chill-out rave pop. But as the voice beds in – clean and glass-like – a different impression emerges. Among its lyrics, opening track Year Of Love offers up: “We were married on a rainy day… it’s just for contractual reasons.” This progressively intense album, the first on 4AD from Norway’s Jenny Hval, charts snapshots from this multi-faceted artist’s life (she also works in visual settings and has written novels). While the musical framing cleaves to the familiar, the album title refers to past events and situations as if they were inanimate entities. Correspondingly, Hval’s etiolated delivery brings a distance from what’s recounted, rendering this as an unsettling experience. Under Hval’s microscope, the seemingly straightforward is anything but.