Norwegian art-pop mythic Jenny Hval has mapped out an international tour and shared a video for her new song "Jupiter," her first for 4AD.
"Jupiter" is a jazz-inflected shapeshifter, moving through a couple different worlds before wandering out on a deteriorating drone.
About the song and its dreamlike video — directed by Zia Anger — Hval said:
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.
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.
Along with the nearly-eight-minute single, Hval has also announced her first North American tour dates since 2018, which will see her performing a single Canadian date at Toronto's Lee's Palace on May 17.
Hval's last album was 2019's The Practice of Love. Zia Anger most recently directed Mitski's video for "Working for the Knife," another piece that explores the precarity and desperation of living for your art.
Watch the video for "Jupiter" and see Hval's upcoming tour dates below.
Jenny Hval 2022 Tour Dates:
03/11 Oslo, NO - TBA
03/17 Bergen, NO - Kulturhuset Bergen
03/18 Stavanger, NO - Tou Scene
03/26 Trondheim, NO - Dokkhuset
04/05 Stockholm, SE - Fasching
04/06 Copenhagen, DK - Bremen Teater
04/07 Berlin, DE - Columbia Theater
04/09 Brussels, BE - Brdcst Festival
04/11 London, GB - Earth
04/13 Paris, FR - La Gaîté Lyrique
05/09 Boston, MA - Arts At The Armory
05/10 Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere
05/11 Philadelphia, PA - Philamoca
05/13 Washington, DC - Miracle Theatre
05/14 Columbus, OH - Skully's
05/15 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/16 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/17 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
05/20 Seattle, WA - Neumos
05/21 Portland, OR - Holocene
05/24 Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
05/25 Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
06/04 Barcelona, ES - Primavera
"Jupiter" is a jazz-inflected shapeshifter, moving through a couple different worlds before wandering out on a deteriorating drone.
About the song and its dreamlike video — directed by Zia Anger — Hval said:
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.
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.
Along with the nearly-eight-minute single, Hval has also announced her first North American tour dates since 2018, which will see her performing a single Canadian date at Toronto's Lee's Palace on May 17.
Hval's last album was 2019's The Practice of Love. Zia Anger most recently directed Mitski's video for "Working for the Knife," another piece that explores the precarity and desperation of living for your art.
Watch the video for "Jupiter" and see Hval's upcoming tour dates below.
Jenny Hval 2022 Tour Dates:
03/11 Oslo, NO - TBA
03/17 Bergen, NO - Kulturhuset Bergen
03/18 Stavanger, NO - Tou Scene
03/26 Trondheim, NO - Dokkhuset
04/05 Stockholm, SE - Fasching
04/06 Copenhagen, DK - Bremen Teater
04/07 Berlin, DE - Columbia Theater
04/09 Brussels, BE - Brdcst Festival
04/11 London, GB - Earth
04/13 Paris, FR - La Gaîté Lyrique
05/09 Boston, MA - Arts At The Armory
05/10 Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere
05/11 Philadelphia, PA - Philamoca
05/13 Washington, DC - Miracle Theatre
05/14 Columbus, OH - Skully's
05/15 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/16 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/17 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
05/20 Seattle, WA - Neumos
05/21 Portland, OR - Holocene
05/24 Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
05/25 Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
06/04 Barcelona, ES - Primavera