Jenny Hval
Apocalypse, Girl
[Sacred Bones]
The title has it: this is end-of-the-world stuff. Not of the fire-and-brimstone variety, though. Hval’s apocalypse is mostly an interior one, though it does bleed out in fears over the commodification of sexuality. ‘I don’t think it’s about submission/It’s about holding and being held’, she sings, though she may mean ‘held’ more in the judicial sense of the word. While provocative, she still shows a pop sensibility. On standout That Battle is Over, you’ll find yourself toe-tapping along to the death rattle of human dignity.
Words: Leo Devlin