Release Date: April 26, 2011
Jenny Hval is a dark and cryptic multigenre artist whose new musical album borders on performance poetry, tribal rhythms and chants, Xiu Xiu’s softer side and from left field, Fleet Foxes.
Viscera is not for the faint of heart. It is for people who want a challenge; it is for people who want to dig into the album, who want to search for meaning and think long after they listen.
Viscera is an album that tells stories. Hval went to school in Norway for creative writing and has a published book of prose that was nominated for the Southern Literature Prize in Norway in 2009. She has fiction and stories on her website, and there are even digital versions of the lyrics on Viscera.
The first thing about Hval that will catch your attention and drag you into her world is the vocals’ sound and the melodies; Hval’s voice sounds like a black-circus contortionist’s would. It is extremely engaging to read the lyrics along with the album, which is an activity that has become increasingly harder to do in today’s digital MP3 world. Hval has found a way to surpass that in a way nobody else has yet.
If you feel on-the-fence about half spoken-word half acoustic ballads, you’ll still keep listening to find out where you stand. You’ll keep reading, and it’ll grow on you. The lyrics, since Hval has a background in prose and poetry, are extremely dense.
Hval’s tongue is a double-edged sword because her lyrics roll right off the tongue and work extremely well musically, just as much as they do poetically. You can interpret the album all sorts of ways. Hval uses a sniperlike precision with her inflection to change the meaning and feeling of her words throughout the album.
This music is very cinematic. It isn’t something that you could throw on at a party, but you’ll be actively participating in trying to figure out what is going on and what Hval is really saying in the songs. Certain songs use the full band and sound, like the 1990s riot-grrl bands such as L7 or Hole.
“How Gentle” sounds like Fleet Foxes with the simple and pleasant acoustic guitar work and single drums keeping slow but steady beats. The songs such as this on the album are dreamy and almost make you feel like you’re floating in a field of grass with nobody around for miles.
The music isn’t abrasive like Xiu Xiu because it won’t make you shutter. You won’t have to turn down your iPod headphones in fear of going deaf or bleeding from the ears, but it’s got the same level of intimate and personal confession that artists such as Xiu Xiu convey.
You really feel like you’re looking through a hole in Hval’s head and can see in her imagination and daily thoughts as she’s dreaming away. This album is something that pushes music forward as an art form while not sounding too over-the-top or theatrical.
Jenny Hval Viscera Tracklisting:
- “Engines in the City”
- “Blood Flight”
- “Portrait of the Young Girl as an Artist”
- “How Gentle”
- “A Silver Fox”
- “Golden Locks”
- “This Is a Thirst”
- “Milk of Marrow”
- “Black Morning/Viscera”
