JENNY HVAL TAPS INTO HER MEMORIES
Experimental artist follows up Blood Bitch with synth-heavy performance pieces.
Jenny Hval’s seventh album The Practice of Love arrives on September 13 via Sacred Bones. It was inspired by last year’s novella Paradise rot in which she explored a young woman’s graduation into adulthood from a notably confused and angry perspective.
“I wanted to revisit that teenage voice many years later,” the norwegian singer-songwriter tells Prog. “I wanted to say something clear, and in order to have clarity there needs to be some discovery and openness.”
a mainstay of her catalogue has always been the careful selection of tones and frequencies. In this instance, she chose 90s trance sounds that expressed the sense of “clarity” she wanted.
“This is music I grew up with but made a decision to part with,” she explains. It reminds her of “rural culture, driving around in cars, not going anywhere”. By reinvestigating, she explores what cultural attachments mean to people, and how they change over time. “I don’t think it’s nostalgia; it’s about what deeper memories of sounds mean. It’s all part of your musical anatomy.”
The album also includes spoken and sung performances by other vocalists, namely Vivian wang, félicia atkinson and Laura jean, and she’ll bring all these strands together in a multi-layered performance at London’s Milton court on September 29.
“I haven’t worked out the format yet,” she admits, but adds she aims to deliver “magic, in a way”.