ALBUM REVIEW: Jenny Hval – The Practice of Love

Sacred Bones
Released: 13.09.19

Inspired by Valie Export’s 1985 drama of the same name, this seventh studio effort sees Jenny Hval explore a theme from which she’s hitherto steered clear. Pairing musings on love and her unmistakable vocal with divine, trance-tinged synth pop, there’s little doubt it’s the Norwegian’s most universal work to date – particularly on the back of an unflinching predecessor in 2016’s Blood Bitch.

Nevertheless, The Practice of Love sports the same ‘otherness’ that’s become Hval’s lyrical trademark; tackling its themes from the perspective of an outsider alienated by entrenched norms and the perennial struggle to conform. Offering a wider context to our impulses and social conventions, it’s another sterling, startlingly beautiful triumph from this most singular artist.