Videos

JENNY HVAL shares new video “”Spells””

• 31st May 2018

Today sees Norwegian multidisciplinary artist Jenny Hval release her new EP ‘The Long Sleep’ via Sacred Bones. As Hval’s first official release since 2106’s Blood Bitch, “The Long Sleep” EP follows the Lost Girls collaborative EP with Håvard Volden, released this past February, and precedes Hval’s debut novel, Paradise Rot, published by Penguin Random House’s Verso, and out October 2nd. Hval is also set to play a London show on June 5th.

After presenting “Spells” as a pre-release stream, Hval now reveals the song’s video, directed by Constance Tenvik. As Hval describes it, “A detective like version of Jenny is carrying a mysterious suitcase through various disco-infused rooms. At times her doppelganger appears. Soon enough the content of the chased suitcase is revealed to be pastel colored marshmallows. The slumber party is officially open and the sweets are up for grabs. A pillow fight evolves into a carnivalesque parade serving dance moves and crocodiles made out of bread and spinach – and with hard boiled eggs as eyes (recipe found in Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes). On the dance floor, Jenny attempts to become a disco ball by draping herself in silver sequins and by pointing with a Maglite on the rotating body. While she is covered in silvery fabrics and spinning, she is not noticing that the party is leaving her.”

Produced by Hval and Lasse Marhaug and recorded with Volden, “The Long Sleep” EP sees Hval embracing an instinctive, even subconscious, approach to creating meaning. In contrast to her more explicitly conceptual work, “The Long Sleep” foregrounds the act of composition itself, letting the melodies and structures reveal the other elements of the songs. All of the songs on the EP recycle the same compositional motives but manipulate them into very different shapes that take them further and further out of their original, “life-like” context.

Jenny Hval Tour Dates:
Fri. May 25 – Den Haag, NL @ Korzo Theater
Fri. June 1 – Oslo, NO @ BLÅ
Tue. June 5 – London, UK @ St. John on Bethnal Green
Thu. June 14 – Barcelona, ES @ Sonar Festival
Sun. July 8 – Copenhagen, DK @ Brorsons Kirke
Sat. Sep. 1 – Cologne, DE @ c/o Pop Festival