Track By Track: Nev Lilit – Hyperit

Besides her work as Nev Lilit, Jennefelt works full-time as a composer and sound designer, creating scores for theatre and contemporary dance. After a period of hiatus, Jennefelt returns as Nev Lilit with the new album ‘Hyperit’, as unflinching as ever.

‘Hyperit’ (Swedish for a volcanic stone) is as cerebral as a thesis yet as forceful as a preternatural geological event. Largely inspired by Jennefelt’s involvement in a performance lecture by the philosopher Jonna Bornemark, the album is driven by a concept that has to be heard to be believed.

Before each performance of Bornemark’s lecture, Jennefelt would plant a lawn on stage, formed of dirt, sand, gravel, rocks, weeds, with a body of water placed underneath. During the performance Jennefelt would then “dig a hole in this lawn, delving progressively deeper and recording soundscapes in the process, with microphones attached to her tools of excavation”. Frankly, it’s an idea that invites incredulity. But whether you’re pro high concept or not, the soundworld Jennefelt creates here is full of undeniable depth, tension and intensity.

Jennefelt’s contribution to the lecture – and the recordings she made in the process – became the impetus for an album of eerie industrial ferocity; one that evokes abrasive, alien echoes in the undergrowth. With the lecture defined as a starting point, expanded by inspirations rooted in “the terrain of meteorites, magma and the Earth’s innermost composition”, ‘Hyperit’ is described as a work that aims to capture “a sense of being ‘inside’ the eponymous volcanic stone, of being inside [a] mountain”.

Jennefelt certainly takes the listener about as close to this archaeological sensation as you can get (at least through sound not entirely based on field recordings). The soundscapes of ‘Hyperit’ feel concrete, substantial, like being taken into an unfamiliar, imposing and all-encompassing terrain. Between Mika Vainio, Puce Mary, Throbbing Gristle and Coil, Nev Lilit makes dissonant electronic music that doesn’t feel one-dimensional in its sense of desecration. Instead, Jennefelt opens up a world that has as much detail as it does immensity and power; a space of creeping unease, seismic echoes and strangely fascinating phenomena.

Accordingly, we asked Jennefelt for a track by track guide to the album, and she provided a concise and tantalizing companion piece. Head into the depths of ‘Hyperit’ by having a listen and a read below.

LILAC
Lilac, the flower that blooms in late May in Stockholm. For me, lilacs symbolize the fragility of spring. The piece consists of field recordings; rocks, water, my own voice, and an ocarina. And analog synthesizers. I gave myself the task of searching for the sudden and unforeseen, for powerful conquests that come and go.

THE RITE OF SPRING
Thoughts go directly to Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, and yes, the pagan myth which it was based upon inspired me; the evil spring where ecstasy meets death.

HYPERIT
Maybe my most primordial music, which I have reshaped over the years. Hyperit (hypersthenite in English) is a volcanic rock from the depths of the earth. The music travels out through sudden openings, through ruptures in the music.

NIGHTS OPEN / OPEN NIGHTS
Music about the night’s ability to be transformative, to be open and uncertain. Inspired by my collaboration with the Swedish philosopher Jonna Bornemark. I added my own voice, and a choir emerged in a kind of distorted lament.

TERRA
Terra is made from the materials of the earth; sand, gravel and stone. In the midst of the chaos something new emerges and looks down into the abyss.

FOREVER APART
Music about future loss, about suffering in advance. From an initial pulse, a different soundscape opens up, spreads out and disappears.

‘Hyperit‘ is out now on Moloton. For more info, head HERE.