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Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist review – intoxicating tribute to the emotive pull of memory


The Norwegian experimentalist’s ninth album is a personal journey through the past and self, focused on the power of scent in evoking forgotten moments

An acrid, earthy scent drifts through the Norwegian experimentalist’s ninth album as she recalls childhood memories and beloved pets, and retreads the stages of past performances. Some of her new tracks do both: I Want to Start at the Beginning opens with Hval marking our location in a burger joint’s car park, but the rest dissolves into staticky synth, indiscernible voices and a drone that sounds like a sunrise. Hval fantasises about a “stage without a show” on The Artist Is Absent; the teasingly short track’s rolling breakbeats and looming bass create the record’s most kinetic, sensuous moment.

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Photo of Iris Silver Mist

Iris Silver Mist

Photo of Jenny Hval

Jenny Hval

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