Norwegian musical auteur Jenny Hval has announced her next project: The Long Sleep, a four-track EP that’s out May 25 from Sacred Bones. The first taste is the opening track, “Spells,” which trades the delicate filigree and haunting experimentation of Hval’s 2016 album Blood Bitch for something more jazzy, enveloping, and freeform. That amoeba-like quality seems to be the point: A press release explains, “All of the songs on the EP recycle the same compositional [motifs], but manipulate them into very different shapes,” part of Hval’s desire to tap into a “subconscious” creative method.
Hval is also preparing to publish her first novel, Paradise Rot, on October 2. It’s a story about a college student who’s studying abroad and “a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire,” according to the publisher. Listen to “Spells” below—it’s heady too, but also very pleasant.
