Menneskekollektivet - Lost Girls: Review

Lost Girls

is the combination of one of experimental music's most acclaimed vocalists Jenny Hval, with frequent collaborator and instrumentalist Havard Volden. Despite her last studio album being released in 2019 Jenny has been busy since then with her novel To Hate God recently being translated and released in English. Menneskekollektivet follows the duo's 2018 two-track debut EP Feeling.

Review By Lav:

I've always loved Jenny's music, as you could tell if you've seen me dish out tons of acclaim to her 2019 and 2016 albums The Practice Of Love and Blood Bitch as well as her 2018 EP The Long Sleep. While I enjoyed the original EP from Lost Girls it didn't knock my socks off in the same way some of her other work had. Despite that I was excited going into this project especially after liking both the singles, and I'm happy to report the music here is pretty solid. 

The album is 44 minutes split over just 5 tracks, the first two of which were released in the lead up to the record. The opener and title track takes no time getting absolutely biblical in scale as ambient synth tones serve as the backing for Jenny's spoken word passages addressing the dawn of everything and how sound works alongside it throughout creation. Once the lyrical approach starts to take a more personal turn the instrumentation picks up first with percussion then followed by glittery expansive keys. The next section of the song features sung vocals that are a bit more familiar for long time fans of Jenny but manages to maintain instrumental versatility throughout as it morphs its key phrase into something much darker and muddier while the clapping percussion remains steady. Jenny's versatile performance is wonderful throughout and concludes the song on a strange moment where she gets uncomfortably intimate with the mic that is probably the most confrontational thing on the entire album. 

Losing Something was the other single and its a much more distant cut with a chamber ready mix of snappy percussion and what sounds like organ sounds. It has a very grand presentation with Jenny sitting tight in the center singing the tracks hook with a ghostly demeanor and beautiful backing vocals. While the composition is towered over by other tracks here I think the songs individual moments go over really well. Carried By Invisible Bodies bumps it up a but to 6 minutes but also spends almost its entire first half feeling like an extended instrumental intro. I actually enjoy the phase quite a bit with rhythmic keys that almost border on being dancy and guide the track into its second half. Jenny is no stranger to spoken word but this time around it comes in a very stream of consciousness way that feels off the cuff. While her voice and words are as interesting as ever I do think the salon style mix of flashy synths and bouncy percussion do cause some unnecessary competition for space with her great performance. 

Love, Lovers is the second of the records massive sprawling epics and I'm not quite as big a fan of it as I was the title track. It starts off incredibly quiet with nothing but Jenny's very soft vocals and some watery sounds hanging in the background. Her refrains reach a point where the sound very instrumental in nature making use of repetition and this very technical assembly that feels like an extension of the songs instrumentation. The issue I have with the track is that there are a lot of moments where very little is going on and it also doesn't really feel like its building to anything. The songs eventual increase in tempo is definitely a worthwhile moment but when all is said and done the 15 minute runtime does feel a bit excessive. 

The closing track Real Life is another unique step for the album with some very frontal guitar in the mix of the instrumentation that is often competing with Jenny's soft sung vocals for space. Jenny's performance on the track is great whether she is delivering avant-garde spoken word poetry of these gorgeous little sung refrains pretty much everything she does is memorable and effective. While it's a bit jarring at first I've warmed up to the song a lot with consecutive listens and I like what it delivers as a conclusion to the album. 

Menneskekollektivet is a very solid introduction to the Lost Girls project. The rich expansive and surprisingly versatile instrumentals have a cohesive sound over top of which Jenny expresses herself with a number of different lyrical and vocal stylings. The musicianship on display is no doubt impressive and when its focused and in the moment there is one memorable moment after another. I'll continue to look out for whatever Jenny does next as she's proven too talented to ever truly miss, but this is much more than just a one off side project and I hope we hear more from Lost Girls sometime soon. 7.5/10

Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:

This cover is quirky and makes me laugh. Even though it's black and white and repetitive my eye keeps moving through the composition. The grain makes me think it was taken on film or altered to look that way and I appreciate the extra layer of interest it adds. There could be a small logo or branding to tie it all together but I think by itself is still memorable. 8/10

For more experimental music check out my review of Xiu Xiu's OH NO here