Jenny Hval has returned with a new single called “Jupiter” to celebrate the announcement of her first North American tour since 2018. It follows on from the excellent Lost Girls album from earlier this year, and is Hval’s first single release for 4AD.
On “Jupiter”, she reveals: “When I wrote the music for this song in 2015, it had no lyrics, and I did not understand where it came from. It was a strange creature that moved from one genre to the next like a slide show and crashed into a chorus full of cymbals… Six years later ‘Jupiter’ has become a post-apocalyptic road trip. It begins by the art installation Prada Marfa in Texas, but turns into a game of identification and absurd imagery. The song winds its way through a desert-scape where values, genres, representation and relationships are breaking down. It tickles our death drive and throws us into space.”
Indeed, listening to “Jupiter” feels like hearing the artist successively stumbling on new worlds. At first she floats over minimal synths, then as multiple percussive elements come in we’re pulled into a new terrain. From there it’s a blissful trek through sparkling and popping sounds, as Hval’s voice rises to wordless heights and dips to curious and questioning areas. For the final minutes of “Jupiter”, Hval pulls us into a blissful drone and chirping field recordings, and the video instructs us “Close your eyes now. Listen. There is nothing left to see.”
On the video, which finds the musician working with regular collaborator Zia Anger, Hval says: “In Zia’s music video, that journey has become a psychedelic hot-air balloon ride. The video crew is filmed stepping into the balloon, knowing it is dangerous. That’s how the precarious workforce, including artists and other freelancers, work: High risk, little security. We all just mean so little. The thinnest needle can puncture our lives.”
Watch the clip below or find “Jupiter” on streaming platforms.
You can find Jenny Hval on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Her live dates, including the newly announced North American stops, are:
Fri. 11 March – OSLO, NO, TBA
Thu. 17 March – BERGEN, NO, Kulturhuset | Bergen
Fri. 18 March – STAVANGER, NO, Tou Scene
Sat. 26 March – TRONDHEIM, NO, Dokkhuset
Tue. 5 April – STOCKHOLM, SE, Fasching
Wed. 6 April – COPENHAGEN, DK, Bremen Teater
Thu. 7 April – BERLIN, DE, Columbia Theater
Sat. 9 April – DEN HAAG, NL, Rewire Festival
Sun. 10 April – BRUSSELS, BE, BRDCST Festival
Mon. 11 April – LONDON, GB, EartH
Wed. 13 April – PARIS, FR, La Gaîté Lyrique
Mon. 9 May – BOSTON, MA, Arts at the Armory
Tue. 10 May – BROOKLYN, NY, Elsewhere
Wed. 11 May – PHILADELPHIA, PA, PhilaMOCA
Fri. 13 May – WASHINGTON, DC, Miracle Theatre
Sat. 14 May – COLUMBUS, OH, Skully’s
Sun. 15 May – CHICAGO, IL, Constellation
Mon. 16 May – CHICAGO, IL, Constellation
Tue. 17 May – TORONTO, ON, Lee’s Palace
Fri. 20 May – SEATTLE, WA, Neumos
Sat. 21 May – PORTLAND, OR, Holocene
Tue. 24 May – OAKLAND, CA, Starline Social Club
Wed. 25 May – LOS ANGELES, CA, Lodge Room
Sat. 4 June – BARCELONA, ES, Primavera
