Blood Bitch
Studio album by
Jenny Hval
ReleasedSeptember 30, 2016
GenreExperimental pop[1]
Length36:26
LabelSacred Bones Records
ProducerJenny Hval & Lasse Marhaug
Jenny Hval chronology
Apocalypse, girl
(2015)		 Blood Bitch
(2016)		 The Practice of Love
(2019)
Singles from Blood Bitch
  1. "Female Vampire"
    Released: May 27, 2016
  2. "Conceptual Romance"
    Released: July 26, 2016
  3. "Period Piece"
    Released: September 15, 2016

Blood Bitch is the sixth studio album by Norwegian musician Jenny Hval, released on September 30, 2016 on Sacred Bones Records. Co-produced by Hval and Lasse Marhaug, the album was preceded by the singles, "Female Vampire", "Conceptual Romance" and "Period Piece".

Described as "an investigation of blood", Blood Bitch is a concept album which draws parallels between a fictional time-travelling vampire, named Orlando, and Hval's own experiences touring her previous studio album, Apocalypse, girl (2015).[2] The album's lyrical content is also influenced by menstruation, 1970s horror and exploitation films and Virginia Woolf.[3]

Writing and composition

During the writing process for Blood Bitch, Hval was influenced by vampiric imagery and 1970s horror and exploitation films: “I was amazed about how much taboo they could contain without moral compass, how much incest there could be.”[4] In a statement released upon the album's announcement, she elaborated: "Blood Bitch is a fictitious story, fed by characters and images from horror and exploitation films of the '70s. With that language, rather than smart, modern social commentary, I found I could tell a different story about myself and my own time: a poetic diary of modern transience and transcendence."[2]

Describing the album has her "most fictional and most personal album,"[2] Hval noted that its dark lyrical and musical content reconnected her with her goth and metal roots: "It’s also the first album where I’ve started reconnecting with the [sic] scene I started out playing in many years ago, by remembering the drony qualities of Norwegian Black Metal. It’s an album of vampires, lunar cycles, sticky choruses, and the smell of warm leaves and winter."[2]

Orlando, the vampiric character whom much of the album focuses upon, was influenced by the Virginia Woolf novel, Orlando: A Biography.[3] Hval elaborated: "[Woolf's] Orlando is a character that lives through several centuries. He starts out being a male growing up. At some point through history, he changes into a she. So it’s a coming of age story that is very fluid, traveling through time and gender. It’s a really lovely book and I think all of my albums are inspired by it in some way because it’s one of those things I read quite early on. It really influenced the way I think about art. For example: With this album, I didn’t intend to do anything in particular beyond beautiful songs when I started writing it. A horror theme and a vampire theme quickly came into it almost subconsciously. When it was all finished, I realized it was just Orlando."[3]

Hval has also described novelist Chris Kraus as "someone I’ve just read and reread constantly and who’s been a really huge [...] inspiration for me."[5] The track Conceptual Romance's references Kraus' I Love Dick and, like the novel, looks at the intersection of feminism and infatuation.[6]

Recording

Hval co-produced the album with Norwegian noise music musician Lasse Marhaug, who had previously collaborated with Hval on her previous album, Apocalypse, girl. Regarding his initial scepticism over working alongside Hval, he noted: "I come from the noise, underground, contemporary, and improvised music [scenes], and I had no experience making pop music. It didn’t make sense to ask me to produce to a pop album. [But Jenny’s] a very smart person, and she obviously saw something in me that I didn’t realize that I had."[4] On working with Marhaug, Hval noted, "Lasse relates to sound in an abstract way. That’s a better way to look at it than as individual songs because many times you end up with an illusion that can’t be broken. Looking at the album as a whole and then putting holes in it means you have these bits of reality peaking through. I love those moments."[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[8]
Metacritic84/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Consequence of SoundB+[11]
Drowned in Sound9/10[12]
The Irish Times[13]
Mojo[14]
The Observer[15]
Pitchfork8.3/10[16]
Record Collector[17]
Slant Magazine[18]
Uncut8/10[19]

Blood Bitch received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]

Writing for AllMusic, Heather Phares praised Hval's dedication to the album's themes, alongside its overall aesthetic and unexpected pop-based songwriting: "a bewitching album from an artist at the peak of her powers."[10]

Accolades

Publication Accolade Year Rank Ref.
Consequence of Sound Top 50 Albums of 2016 2016
21
FACTmag 50 Best Albums of the Year 2016 2016
1
The Guardian The Best Albums of 2016 2016
26
The Independent Best Albums of 2016 2016
4
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 2016 2016
42
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2016 2016
23
Pitchfork The 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2016 2016 —
The Quietus Albums of the Year 2016 2016
10
Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2016
75
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2016 2016
38

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jenny Hval except for tracks 3 and 8, co-written by Lasse Marhaug

No.TitleLength
1."Ritual Awakening"1:42
2."Female Vampire"3:37
3."In the Red"2:21
4."Conceptual Romance"4:32
5."Untamed Region"4:51
6."The Great Undressing"4:00
7."Period Piece"2:41
8."The Plague"5:57
9."Secret Touch"4:39
10."Lorna"2:06

Personnel

  • Jenny Hval – vocals, background vocals, composer, arranger, instruments, production, programming (all tracks), concept
  • Lasse Marhaug – art direction, composer (tracks 3 & 8), mixing, production (all tracks)
  • Marcus Schmickler – mastering

References

  1. ↑ Fox, Killian (9 October 2016). "Jenny Hval: Blood Bitch review – intriguing experimental pop". The Observer. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Minsker, Evan (26 May 2016). "Jenny Hval Announces New Album Blood Bitch, Shares "Female Vampire"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Huff, Rob (28 September 2016). "Bleeding out with Jenny Hval" (Interview). Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 Brodsky, Rachel (1 September 2016). "Jenny Hval's Art of Failure". Spin. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  5. ↑ "Interview with Jenny Hval". The White Review. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  6. ↑ Snapes, Laura (2016-10-03). "Songs Cycles: Jenny Hval On The Importance Of Uncertainty". NPR. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  7. ↑ Wright, Danny (30 September 2016). "Jenny Hval // Interview". London In Stereo. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Blood Bitch by Jenny Hval reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Reviews for Blood Bitch by Jenny Hval". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  10. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Blood Bitch – Jenny Hval". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Corcoran, Nina (29 September 2016). "Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Adcock, Lee (29 September 2016). "Album Review: Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  13. ↑ Clayton-Lea, Tony (22 September 2016). "Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch album review: a triumph of time-travelling vampires and menstruation". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  14. ↑ Tyler, Kieron (October 2016). "Jenny Hval: Blood Bitch". Mojo (275): 98.
  15. ↑ Fox, Killian (9 October 2016). "Jenny Hval: Blood Bitch review – intriguing experimental pop". The Observer. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  16. ↑ Pelly, Jenn (4 October 2016). "Jenny Hval: Blood Bitch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  17. ↑ Moores, JR (October 2016). "Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch". Record Collector (458). Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  18. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (18 September 2016). "Jenny Hval: Blood Bitch". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  19. ↑ Wallace, Wyndham (5 October 2016). "Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch". Uncut. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2016". Consequence of Sound. November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  21. ↑ "FACTmag Albums of the Year 2016". FACTmag. December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  22. ↑ "The Best Albums of 2016: 40-31". The Guardian. November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Best Albums of 2016". The Independent. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  24. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2016". Paste. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  25. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2016 - Page 3 | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  26. ↑ "The 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2016". Pitchfork. December 9, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  27. ↑ "The Quietus Albums of the Year 2016". The Quietus. December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Albums of the Year". Rough Trade. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  29. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2016". Stereogum. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
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