The last time I spoke to Jenny Hval, we broached the topic of how the Norwegian artist uses comfortable and uncomfortable sounds to manipulate the listener. I suggested that perhaps the more traditionally beautiful moments on her latest release (then 2015’s critically adored Apocalypse, girl) operated as a disruptive tool as much as the noise. She didn’t really agree. “I’m here to make you uncomfortable. But I don’t see the more harmonious parts of my work as lulling. I’m not a trickster. I truly believe that there is room for all kinds of elements together without them betraying one another.” Now back with another pleasantly challenging album, Blood Bitch, that statement feels truer than ever.
Matthew Neale 