Jenny Hval - Viscera

Took a couple of listens, but absolutely adore this album. Not sure how many times I will need to hear that radio interview (?) in The Practice of Love over and over again, but the rest of it is wonderful.

Too short.

this is oscar's 2019 pick for album of the year so far

"six red cannas" and "ordinary" are so good

it all belongs together, at 33 minutes. the lost girls "feelings" ep from last year also flowed nicely, 2 long songs, 24 minutes.

I feel stupid for asking, but does anyone know what the years referenced in Six Red Cannas mean?

i'm not sure if they reference anything specific, or if it's more about suggesting communication and connecting between different points of time

This is such a beautiful album.

have never really got into her previous work, but i'm really loving The Practice of Love

Came across the phrase “the practice of love” in The Will to Change and now I’m wondering if that’s where she got it?

the practice of love is the first jenny hval record i've ever liked and boy do i LOVE it. it's a garden of crystal

i have no idea who jenny hval is but big ups to lukas for reading the will to change

Matt you would like this record I think!

I’ll look for it thx!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URjW9mLegcY

love this

I just watched all her music videos and here is my ranking. How Gentle was kind of too different to rank against the rest.

Sabbath
That Battle Is Over
Conceptual Romance
The Great Undressing
Female Vampire
Take Care of Yourself
Accident
Spell

shout out to Grizzly Man

wish she'd done videos for High Alice and Ashes to Ashes

also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MF830eJw7M

really why so few videos on the last album? :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HXi4JtQWYU

I never thought to look at her videos before (I don't really watch videos generally). They're interesting, but they have a lot of people in them. Is she making loads of money or does she just have a lot of friends? I'm not into huge groups of people, in any context.

those do look like posse videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IwDEUV6yA0

definitely my favorite so far, with a special treat for fans of the last album

the first Lost Girls LP is out on March

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/602bd80030935c407867c3a0/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Lost-Girls.jpg

01 Menneskekollektivet
02 Losing Something
03 Carried by Invisible Bodies
04 Love, Lovers
05 Real Life

the structure of the title track is similar to "Drive" on the Feeling EP from 2018 (I think their only other release under the Lost Girls name?) - over 10 minutes, beginning with a long spoken word (in this case about jehovah's witnesses and an inverse "in the beginning" featuring darkness and silence) before building up to the more synth/singing/song-oriented last half.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ah7o9sxpHk

Love this. Enjoying hearing her stretch out over beats that aren't her usual.

Wish I still mixed, I would love to put this track in a set.

Lost Girls album is out, it's lovely.
Also still surprises me to hear the Australian in Hval's spoken word bits, even though I know she lived here for a while.

Where's it out? I see a pre-order link on Bandcamp ...

oh out tomorrow, I can wait.

ah i'd never noticed the australian influence in her accent before

album is great

can't wait to listen to the full thing!

i mean, i can wait. just saw lukas' post and thought well yeah, i can wait too i guess :)

It's on Spotify here--does that stagger releases by local date? I assumed it came out everywhere at once.

i don't see the album yet on spotify, just the two singles (menneskekollektivet and losing something)

it's not on Spotify here yet. it is not yet available in the United States. I am prevented from hearing it.

spotify staggers releases by local date in general except for the occasional major label pop album which gets a global worldwide release

i think people who enjoyed the title track will like the rest of the album too, it's similar in feeling but there's a lot of nice guitar soloing too

kind of reminds me of lindstrom & prin thomas's ii which i love

also maybe the closest we'll ever get to a new knife album? like it's not ripping them off or anything but very much feels like an unexplored direction they could have gone on

Damn that sold out quick :/

Listened to Menneskekollektivet after I saw it was a duo with Jenny Hval (from the cover I had thought probably a female indie rock band). I am not really feeling the long pieces, too meticulous and conceptual and not really gripping. Hval is not at her best. The true highlight turned out to be 'Real Life' (guitar also a nice addition on Losing Something).

New cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhVN_oRcv8

if you like Jenny Hval, I recommend the new Tirzah album

I like both Jenny Hval & Tirzah - unsure how compatible they are. JennyH is far more wordy than Tirzah for one - that new Tirzah record has a kind of chilly, hazed ambiguity which is pointedly unpretentious in my mind. Part of her ineffable charm is that her songs have an unfinished , rough quality whereas Jenny H is unafraid of going into territory which sounds like she has composed dramatic decidedly 'unrandom' mini symphonies and she pairs this with lyrics which are an odd mixture of almost academic textbook ideas & visceral emotion. JennyH has got more material with probably more variety in there as wellm- Tirzah just has those two albums. Thinking this through now - it IS an interesting comparison and I can see some similarities in that they are both clearly thoughtful artists with layers of sub text - but the finished product for me & approach seems kinda opposite. Its got me thinking though.

so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJB7UR91JrA

yes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i2oJJwgLTk

gorgeous

new album's very good, maybe not quite as good as the lost girls album last year but still very enjoyable

general vibe reminds me of aerial and animals so it's really made for me

Her music is often beautifully layered, here it's beautifully bare, natural-mechanical, and placing more focus on her solo voice, almost approaching Susanne Sundfør lyrical art pop. It feels very confident and accomplished. Not every composition hits, but each tries something out convincingly and the eight songs are consistent.

This is a really addictive and super-accessible album and I think my favourite Hval to date. Instantly gratifying as a fresh springtime pop album but there are layers and layers and layers to unpick. The structures are possibly less conventionally pop than on The Practice of Love but it is somehow a much easier and more nourishing listen.

the year of love is a fantastic song

Finally listening to this.

Given it is currently uncertain whether Julia Holter will make further albums in the vein of Have You In My Wilderness, I’m very grateful to Hval for stepping into the breach so consummately.