Jenny Hval at MoMA PS1
photo by Edwina Hay

Jenny Hval releasing 'The Long Sleep' & touring (listen to "Spells")

While Jenny Hval hasn’t put out a release of her own since her excellent 2016 album Blood Bitch, she’s kept very busy since then, playing shows, releasing an EP as Lost Girls, her project with longtime collaborator Håvard Volden, and preparing her first novel, Paradise Rot. Now she’s announced a new EP of her own, The Long Sleep, due out May 25 via Sacred Bones. See the cover art and track listing below.

Jenny worked with Håvard Volden again on The Long Sleep, as well as producer Lasse Marhaug and some jazz musicians: Kyrre Laastad, Anja Lauvdal, Espen Reinertsen, and Eivind Lønning. Their presence is very apparent on the EP’s first single, “Spells,” which you can listen to below. “Spells” is one of Jenny’s most poppy and immediately listenable songs yet, letting her voice soar more than she ever has before, and with horns that give it an almost tropical feel.

About the EP, Jenny says:

“What am I doing here? Am I communicating? Am I promoting?

I just want to tell you something.

There should be something I could tell you, there should be something I could do to reach you directly, but there is nothing useful in the way we define “you”, or “me”. There should be something I could tell you, there should be something I could say directly without lyrics and melody.

Maybe that’s what I’m trying here. Something else than lyrics or melody. It’s not the words. It’s not in the rhythm. It’s not in the streaming. It’s not in the “message”. It’s not in the product. It’s not in the algorithms. It’s not something you decided. It’s not something they decided for you.

I want to tell you something. I just want to say: Thank you. I love you.”

Jenny Hval has some upcoming tour dates, including Moogfest and FORM: Arcosanti. See all her upcoming shows below.

The Long Sleep EP

The Long Sleep tracklist
1. Spells
2. The Dreamer Is Everyone In Her Dream
3. The Long Sleep
4. I Want To Tell You Something

Jenny Hval: 2018 Tour Dates
Sat. April 21 – Zurich, CH @ Norient & Rewire present Sonic Fiction (concert series)
Thu. May 10 – Seattle, WA @ Nordic Museum
Sat. May 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room HLP
Sun. May 13 – Mayer, AZ @ FORM: Arcosanti
Thu. May 17-Sun. May 20 – Durham, NC @ Moogfest
Fri. June 1 – Olso, NO @ Blå
Tue. June 5 – London, UK @ St. John on Bethnal Green
Thu. June 14 – Barcelona, ES @ Sonar Festival
Sat. Sep. 1 – Cologne, DE @ Pop Festival

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