The follow-up to Jenny Hval's acclaimed 2016 album Blood Bitch is The Long
Sleep, an adventurous new EP that sees the Norwegian multidisciplinary artist
embracing an instinctive, even subconscious, approach to creating meaning. In
contrast to Hval's more explicitly conceptual work, The Long Sleep foregrounds
the act of composition itself, letting the melodies and structures reveal the other
elements of the songs. All of the songs on the EP recycle the same compositional
motives, but manipulate them into very different shapes that take them further
and further out of their original, "life-like" context.
Hval recorded The Long Sleep with longtime collaborator H vard Volden and producer
Lasse Marhaug, along with an ace new supporting cast of talented players
from the jazz world - Kyrre Laastad on percussion, Anja Lauvdal on piano, Espen
Reinertsen on saxophone, and Eivind L nning on trumpet. Hval calls them
some of her favorite contemporary musicians, and their musical background
helps to give the songs on The Long Sleep their intuitive, improvised feel.
