At The Edge Of History

Jenny Hval “That Battle Is Over”

“That Battle Is Over” seems to exist in a strange liminal space – between form and formlessness, between deliberate sexiness and a resistance of sexualization, between the personal and the political. Jenny Hval’s lyrics move through a series of provocative and interesting thoughts, but the connection between all of them is sorta loose and free form. It’s less like an essay and more like just getting lost in thought and letting one idea to lead to another. This makes her points seem all the more profound, particularly as her mind draws a line from media-induced paranoia and hypochondria to the way capitalism thrives on people’s dissatisfaction with themselves, and ultimately, how capitalism’s illusions of choice can make you think that “feminism is over” when patriarchal structures are still in place. The song is like one long epiphany set to a beat and organ drone that signals “erotic” to me, in part because of how commonly this aesthetic was used for intentionally sexy music in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. I love the tension between that vibe and Hval’s words, and the implication that a song dealing with persuasion and seduction on a cultural level should itself sound persuasive and seductive.

Buy it from Amazon.