John Fordham 

Susanna/Jenny Hval: Meshes of Voice review – an exultant experience

Two Norwegian musicians join forces inspired by surrealism and gothic architecture, melding dissonance and solemnity, writes John Fordham
  
  

Susanna and Jenny Hval
Striking sparks … Susanna and Jenny Hval. Photograph: Andreas Ulvo Photograph: Andreas Ulvo/pr

Norwegian singer/songwriter Susanna Wallumrød doesn't flinch from raw emotional realities, but she usually traverses them with a seraphic, pure-toned calm. Conversely, Jenny Hval (Susanna's compatriot, and a poet and novelist as well as one-woman band Rockettothesky) negotiates the same terrain with a fierce, dissonant candour – their meeting was always likely to strike sparks. They jointly wrote Meshes of Voice for Ladyfest in 2009, inspired by Maya Deren's 1943 surrealist film, Meshes of the Afternoon, and the gothic visions of Antoni Gaudí. It's a wild,disorientating but exultant experience, using voices, keys, guitar, percussion and electronics to embrace minimalist, quietlyclanging churchbell sounds; typical Susanna incantations that get swept away by crashing waves of noise; call-and-response exchanges between Susanna's entreaties and Hval's defiance, occasion–ally mellow, country-music vocal harmonies and pop-song tunes; and rumbles of prayerlike chanting. I Have Walked This Body – a mix of solemnity and abrasiveness reminiscent of Annette Peacock and the most pop-friendly track here – could even end up an underground hit.

 

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