In years to come, we may come to see the current cabal of Scandinavian art-pop artists as representing a golden age. Lykke Li, Oh Land, MØ and Susanne Sundfør, among others, have developed a distinctive post-Björk new wave where sparkling electro-pop melds Abba-esque melodies with state-of-the-art production and edgy, often dark subject matter. Jenny Hval sits on this genre’s periphery as an artistic outlier of uncompromising energy and defiant vision.
She seems happy to be there. Her new offering, the follow up to last year’s ‘Apocalypse, girl’, is a concept album that draws on menstrual blood and vampirism for its thematic fuel. It tells the story of two fictitious characters: the vampire Orlando, travelling through time and space, and a 35-year old recording artist stuck in a touring loop.
These dual narratives are fed by figures and images from horror and exploitation films of the '70s in a sort of Dario Argento-meets-Kavinsky freeform studio happening.
It delivers songs, prose and poetry with warm and cogent synth drones, SFX, samples and interview material to create a unique melange that is both wince-inducing and spine-tinglingly elegant.
“‘Blood Bitch’ is an investigation of blood,” Hval says of the LP. “Blood that is shed naturally. The purest and most powerful, yet most trivial, and most terrifying blood. Menstruation. The white and red toilet roll chain which ties together the virgins, the whores, the mothers, the witches, the dreamers, and the lovers.”
In this regard, the linkage between the different track formats is one of the album’s most effective elements. The Plague and Untamed Region are full-blown Dadaist soundscapes, combining found sounds, narration (from filmmaker Adam Curtis, no less) and the artist’s own free verse to create a stimulating mishmash where melodies flit in and out.
One side effect is that when songs like Female Vampire, Secret Touch and Conceptual Romance arrive, the listener might be tricked into thinking that they are better than they actually are. Their Krautrock-Warp aesthetic is distinctive, vibrant and melodious, but they lack the craft and finesse of master songwriters like Sundfør. The standout is probably In the Red, which uses the singer’s short breaths to deliver a hypnotic tableau rich in pain, violence and sexual pleasure. It’s a devastating track; at times arousing, confusing and revolting.
'Blood Bitch’ is probably the most direct album you'll ever hear about menstruation, but its message is ambiguous. At times it seems like Hval is attempting to make a long-taboo subject more palatable - preparing the listener for a mature, gender-neutral conversation about a subject that can often terrify men - and the thematic use of vampires here is elucidating.
But when Hval presents a sample of blood/urine hitting the toilet bowl, you know this is an artist trying to do something altogether more cryptic, personal and angry than just promote a conversation. She's out for blood.
Jenny Hval Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon October 17 2016 - GLASGOW Stereo, Glasgow
Tue October 18 2016 - MANCHESTER Soup Kitchen
Wed October 19 2016 - LONDON Oslo
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