Jenny Hval is a highly-acclaimed Norwegian singer/songwriter whose uncategorizable music can best be categorized broadly as art-pop. Hval is a prolific musician, having put out 10 albums in as many years. Her latest work, The Practice of Love, was released last week and has already received heaps of praise from music-prominent websites like the AV Club and Pitchfork, where it received the Best New Music designation (which EarthGang’s new album should have also earned, but that’s another article altogether), and currently holds an overall Metacritic score of 84.
Coinciding with the release of The Practice of Love, Hval sat down with Pitchfork to discuss what inspired her latest work. In the interview, Hval lists coffee as one of the driving factors. But not just any coffee, specifically Tim Wendelboe coffee.
And The Practice of Love is not the first album of hers that Wendelboe has fueled. According to the interview, the last three albums have all been powered by Tim Wendelboe coffee. As it turns out, Hval recorded those albums one block from Wendelboeโs Oslo storefront. โItโs really famous, which can be annoying because itโs full of coffee tourists,โ Hval tells Pitchfork. โIโve been high so many times in that placeโfrom coffee. Itโs my only high. I donโt really drink and Iโve never taken drugs. Coffee is my highest level.โ
Proximity aside, Hval is a fan of the Scandinavian roaster, going so far as to say she believes โitโs the best in the worldโ while noting that perhaps the super light roast style isnโt for everyone (though her claims about it being stronger than other coffee could perhaps use a little fact-checking).
Thereโs great coffee in America, too, though a lot of the time I find thereโs a lot of really dark stuff in Americaโbut thatโs America, in general.
If your cafe is looking for some new coffee-inspired experimental art-pop to softly soundtrack the clamoring of cups and whirring of steam wands, then maybe check out The Practice of Love by Jenny Hval.ย It’s Tim Wendelboe-approved… or Tim Wendelboe is Jenny Hval-approved. It’s one of those.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.