''Blood Bitch'' is the sixth studio album by Norwegian musician

Jenny Hval Jenny Hval (born 11 July 1980) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and novelist. She has released eight solo albums, two under the alias Rockettothesky and six under her own name. In 2015, Hval released her fifth studio ...

, released on September 30, 2016 on

Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass, Crystal Stilts, Marissa ...

. Co-produced by Hval and

Lasse Marhaug Lasse Marhaug (born 10 September 1974) is a Norwegian musician who primarily works in the field of noise music but frequently drifts into other areas such as improvisation, jazz, rock and extreme metal. Marhaug has also been involved in creating ...

, 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 A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

which draws parallels between a fictional time-travelling

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

, named Orlando, and Hval's own experiences touring her previous studio album, '' Apocalypse, girl'' (2015). The album's lyrical content is also influenced by

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...

, 1970s horror and

exploitation films An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

Writing and composition

During the writing process for ''Blood Bitch'', Hval was influenced by

vampiric A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

imagery and 1970s horror and

: “I was amazed about how much taboo they could contain without moral compass, how much incest there could be.” 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." Describing the album has her "most fictional and most personal album," Hval noted that its dark lyrical and musical content reconnected her with her

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

roots: "It’s also the first album where I’ve started reconnecting with the icscene I started out playing in many years ago, by remembering the drony qualities of

Norwegian Black Metal Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

. It’s an album of vampires,

lunar cycles Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

, sticky choruses, and the smell of warm leaves and winter." Orlando, the vampiric character whom much of the album focuses upon, was influenced by the

novel, '' Orlando: A Biography''. Hval elaborated: " oolf'sOrlando 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." 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." The track ''Conceptual Romance'''s references Kraus' ''

I Love Dick ''I Love Dick'' is a novel by American artist and author Chris Kraus. Published by Semiotext(e) in 1997, ''I Love Dick'' merges fiction and memoir formats to explore the writer's psycho-sexual obsession with the eponymous "Dick", a media theoris ...

'' and, like the novel, looks at the intersection of feminism and infatuation.

Recording

Hval co-produced the album with Norwegian

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

musician

, 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 Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

, contemporary, and improvised music cenes and I had no experience making

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

. It didn’t make sense to ask me to produce to a pop album. ut Jenny’sa very smart person, and she obviously saw something in me that I didn’t realize that I had." 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."

Critical reception

''Blood Bitch'' received widespread acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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". Writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, 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."

Accolades

Track listing

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

{{Authority control 2016 albums Concept albums Jenny Hval albums Sacred Bones Records albums Experimental pop albums Vampires in popular culture