Jenny Hval
is an artist so finely attuned to sensory experiences, it's not surprising she rekindled her passion for fragrance during the COVID-19 global pandemic, a time when mere human contact -- to say nothing of live performance -- was difficult if not impossible. She brings these needs for sensuality, creativity, and connection together movingly on
Iris Silver Mist
, an album named after a Serge Lutens perfume she's described as smelling "like being close to ghosts." Frequently,
sounds like being close to ghosts. On "You Died," there's a spectral float to
Hval
's vocals and the electronics that surround them; on "Spirit Mist," starbursts of arpeggiated synths and field recordings of the Oslo subway sound like transit into another dimension; and on "I Want the End to Sound Like This," weightless ambient drones transcend the need for words altogether. Even if
aims to be as transparent as scent, it's often more present and intimate than her previous albums. Like a master perfumer blending base, heart, and top notes,
heightens and transmutes memories and desires to beguiling effect on songs such as "Lay Down," a lush remembrance tinged with '60s symphonic pop and grounded by the purring of a cat. She makes the most of the ways music, and scent, can blur the lines between past and present: On "To Be a Rose," times with her mother and being on-stage are inextricably linked by cigarette smoke. The paths
's songs take may wind and linger like trails of perfume, but even when "I Don't Know What Free Is" shifts from trippy jazz to exultant dance beats, she never loses her audience. Many of the album's pieces were originally written for her 2024 series of shows I Want to Be a Machine, and just how much sharing her music means to her is clear on "The Gift"s imagery of empty concert halls and "A Ballad," where she confesses that being on-stage is "the only page."
's reconnection with her senses, her art, and her people makes for some of her most personal and affecting music. Alluring and thought-provoking,
plays the heart notes expertly. ~ Heather Phares