The debut LP from the duo Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden is a warm-blooded exploration of the sensuality of the artistic process.
This record evades categorization. It’s a strange beast, like a sphinx: you can’t tell where one animal begins and where the other ends.
You'll scent strong hints of Arthur Russell's twisted marginal disco within Menneskekollektivet ((The Human Collective"), as Hval's folkish vocals and poetic framing deliciously counterpoint a fusillade of muscular beats and Volden's jabbing guitar.
The music is merely caught in a state of evolution and, had they not chosen to nail it down to tape when they did, it might have developed differently. What therefore emerges - in Hval's occasionally tentative melodic explorations as much as Volden's instrumental experiments — is an insight into the very process of making an album.
Menneskekollektivet takes listeners on a journey that is both transcendent and meditative. The experimental qualities allow the album to be many records at once—electronic and poppy in some places, ambient and symphonic in other places, and in places, all of these things simultaneously.