Like Björk and FKA Twigs, Norwegian artist Jenny Hval presents a version of female sexuality in which carnal impulses, anxieties and the female/male perspective are often knotted together. Her 2013 John Parish-produced album Innocence Is Kinky translated theories on identity and gender inequality into confrontational art-pop, starting with her watching porn. Its followup could also keep you busy for days. The album wrestles with many of the same ideas, set against an erotic sonic futurescape of spoken word, warped choirs, sci-fi electronics and her typically pillow-soft vocals, which switch from vulnerable to powerful when she drops phrases such as “soft-dick rock” and “capitalist clits”. Take Care of Yourself lists stereotypes perpetuated by sexual consumerism (“shaving in all the right places”); the almost-meditative The Battle Is Over imagines a future where “feminism is over”, her prose free-flowing over subdued organ-pop; and Sabbath might even slip on to a daytime 6Music playlist if it wasn’t for its triumphant use of the word “cunt”. It’s provocative, but these are ideas rarely heard in pop, which makes it all the more compelling.
