Jenny Hval brings her unique brand of experimental electronic pop to Manchester’s Soup Kitchen this Tuesday, as she tours her new album Blood Bitch.
The Norwegian multidisciplinary artist has consistently altered and adjusted her style since entering the music scene in 1999 under the pseudonym ‘Rockettothesky’ playing a brand of goth metal.
Now releasing a fourth album under her own name, Jenny Hval has cultivated a sound that showcases her introspective and thoughtful lyrics by supporting them with low-fi, droning electronic instrumentation.
Female Vampire and Conceptual Romance, two singles from the latest album, demonstrate her ability to juxtapose swirling and occasionally heavy electronic sounds with her ethereal voice, an experience best enjoyed live.
Hval offers gig goers an experience that transcends a regular evening of music, as she branches into other forms of artistic expression, exploring issues of gender fluidity, the self and subjectivity through movement, spoken word, and dramatic performance.
Each gig is different for the 36 year old artist, who says she enjoys the flexibility of her live performances.
“Sometimes, I am able to have a good idea of what’s going to happen on stage. Other times, I just think we’ll get through it and think as we’re doing it. We’ll perform it live and go from there,” she told Drowned in Sound.
“I’ve now worked with a few people on performative stuff on stage over the past year and a half and so I’ve a group of people thinking with me about my music and how to perform it.
“It’s very interesting. My music is made – and especially this new album – in a very personal headspace – it’s just me playing it inside my head. So it’s really lovely to have a team of brains and creative powers figuring out how to perform it.”
Blood Bitch is an album inspired by the vampire movies of Hval’s teenage years, her frustration with the taboo of menstruation and her own difficult experience of breaking into the music industry at the age of 17.
Jenny Hval plays alongside special guest Rose McDowall, with tickets available for £9 in advance.
