Norwegian musician and novelist Jenny Hval has announced her signing to 4AD with new single/video, “Jupiter“, and in conjunction, has announced her first North American tour since 2018. The “Jupiter” video sees Hval collaborating once again with director Zia Anger.
Following its soulful, almost jazzy opening with Hval intoning over floating piano, “Jupiter” blooms with shuffling percussion, and as Hval’s crystal cooing layers, it swells into a simple hymn-like chorus. “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,” says Hval. “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.”
Hval elaborates: “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.”
Listen to “Jupiter” and watch the video for it below:
Since her last album, 2019’s widely acclaimed The Practice of Love, Hval published the English translation of her third novel, Girls Against God, and released an album under the name Lost Girls with frequent collaborator, HåvardVolden. Hval’s upcoming North American tour runs coast-to-coast throughout May 2022.
Jenny Hval Tour Dates
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 –BRUSSELS, BE,BRDCST Festival
Tue. 11 April–LONDON, GB,EartH
Wed. 13 April –PARIS, FR, La GaîtéLyrique
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