Norwegian fave Jenny Hval has announced her new album: it’s called Classic Objects and will arrive on March 11 through 4AD. It features last year’s excellent single “Jupiter” as well as today’s new offering “Year of Love”. Hval says it initiated at a show where she witnessed a proposal of marriage in the audience:
“For me, this experience was very troubling. It confronted me with the fact that I am also married. What does that detail from my private life say about me as an artist? ‘Year of Love’ asks, who am I as an artist? Do my private actions betray my work and voice?”
“Year of Love” will be the opener on Classic Objects, and is a beautiful introduction to the new sound world that Hval has created. A teasing, thin silvery rhythm underpins the track, before bouncy organ joins the mix, while Hval’s words spiral out into a boggling world of imagery, as usual. From marriages on rainy days, to the industrial happiness complex, to witnessing a proposal as she’s in the middle of a performance, there may or may not be a thread to follow, but it’s delightful attempting to. The instrumental unspools so subtly but effortlessly, gradually building a quiet steam as Hval’s mind floats onwards, you won’t even realise the way the rhythm has developed to become an Afrobeat-inspired march, guiding us deeper into the unfathomable mind of the songwriter.
The video for “Year of Love” is a 3D rendering of the Classic Objects album cover (or perhaps the cover is taken from the video), which was created by Hval along with Jenny Berger Myhre and Annie Bielski. Watch it below or find the song on streaming platforms.
Jenny Hval’s new album Classic Objects will be out on March 11 through 4AD (pre-order/save). You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
