Country : Norway Label : Genres and styles : Ambient / Avant-Pop / Drone / Experimental Dream Pop Year : 2022

Jenny Hval – Classic Objects

· by Alain Brunet

Speaking in English, this hyper-gifted musician and author from Oslo (exploratory songs but also novels) wants to be both instinctive and cerebral. We know that this posture represents an advantage for some people, nerds and aesthetes in the minority, and… an oddity or even an annoying headache for the other humans, who are in the majority. This time, however, a part of both worlds can be reconciled in Jenny Hval’s world at the end of her COVID19 isolation.

Better than anyone, she sums up the process on “Classic Objects”, her tenth album since she entered public life in 2006 as Rockettothesky: 

“Is art nothing more than a fancy, difficult construct I’ve dressed my naked self in, one that isn’t really necessary? In the age of social media, the search for truth and the capitalization of the real and private individual, other values are being lost. And during the pandemic, these other values were not even allowed. Art had no value, except perhaps that of comfort. It made me feel very ordinary. That feeling made me want to write something very simple. Stories about life, maybe even about my own life. I wanted to investigate “just me”, to strip the concept and idea of myself down to the deepest cells. In a way, to show the listener that at the heart of our search for ‘just me’ is the void.”

This paradoxical dive into the emptiness of the deepest self has led Jenny Hval to explore various themes during the pandemic confinement such as marital union, health care, self-healing, flat wellness, places from her real past, and other places that are fictional, dreamlike, celestial, or downright hallucinated.  

Musically, “Classic Objects” represents her idea of a pop album. In any case, her fans will agree that this is probably the closest she has come to the song form. The concern for clarity from more conventional forms is therefore a key factor of this new proposal. Thus, we can find verses and refrains, consonant melodies. The musical sources are varied, pop, avant-pop, dream pop, drone, ambient, chamber jazz… Of course, it is not an authentic pop album, but the experimental elements appear only in some details.  

Here is a magnificent gateway to the fascinating universe of this exceptional artist and intellectual.

Latest 360 Content

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

LMNL – Rainbow

LMNL – Rainbow

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Galan Trio – Embrace

Galan Trio – Embrace

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Hypercube – The Force for Good

Hypercube – The Force for Good

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

Duo AYA – Cycles

Duo AYA – Cycles

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Samuel Bonnet Trio – Live in Harmony

Samuel Bonnet Trio – Live in Harmony

Marc-André Hamelin; Quatuor Takacs – Dvořák & Price : Piano Quintets

Marc-André Hamelin; Quatuor Takacs – Dvořák & Price : Piano Quintets

Subscribe to our newsletter