Norwegian artist Jenny Hval has released the debut single from her upcoming album. Watch the video for “Female Vampire” below, released in conjunction with Hval’s North American tour announcement.

Shot on an iPhone and directed by Jenny Berger Myhre, the video follows Hval and her “vampire” friends as they flock together to perform various nighttime rituals in Oslo. Presented in slow motion, the film replaces the violent imagery of vampire folklore with that of sensuous movement — with the circle of women bringing their hands and faces together to transcend the confinement of dimly lit spaces. The song itself finds Hval’s disembodied voice echoing over a pulsing beat, as flickering lights illuminate the rhythm of the night. Jenny Hval explains her concept for “Female Vampire” in her own words:

What does eternity feel like? How do you ‘live’ when there is no death? Usually, the vampire is depicted as a lonesome, all-knowing and ancient creature combining violence, aggressive sexuality and deceitful youth. The pack behind the video for ‘Female Vampire’ wanted to explore vampiric eternity in a different narrative: in a group of romancing friends. The vampire friends move through their hometown of Oslo, partaking in public and private rituals of moving together. We also wanted to combine ideas from old vampire trash movies and modern trashy iPhone videos, resulting in an enigmatic world of time-lapse like slow motion where everything is always moving, or moving on. Not there, or not there yet.

Jenny Hval’s new album Blood Bitch is due for a September 30 release on Sacred Bones Records. Following last year’s Apocalypse, girl, the LP will be Hval’s sixth studio album release and her second with Sacred Bones. The new LP will be out before Jenny Hval makes her way back to the Bay Area on November 12, where she will perform an all ages at Oakland’s Starline Social Club.

Jenny Hval
Starline Social Club
November 12, 2016
9pm, $15