User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
Innocence is Kinky Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 27 Ratings

  • Summary: Produced by John Parish, the Norwegian artist's latest release was influenced by a sound and light installation commissioned in 2011.
Buy Now
Buy on
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Nov 15, 2013
    90
    Innocence Is Kinky is a remarkable album, one which delves beneath the surface and returns with something both seductive and strange.
  2. May 24, 2013
    90
    It’s in her artwork’s texture that Hval’s voice fascinates.
  3. Jun 6, 2013
    90
    Innocence is Kinky might be a more clear distillation of Hval’s vision, but that’s only because the gaze is fixed so intently from performer to perpetrator.
  4. Q Magazine
    May 24, 2013
    80
    Disturbingly sensual stuff. [Jun 2013, p.99]
  5. The Wire
    Jun 5, 2013
    80
    Self-reflective and conceptually probing, it demands and sustains repeated listenings. [May 2013, p.55]
  6. May 30, 2013
    80
    She is expressing something ineffable in a way that is consumable and still interesting: the album as starting point, a work that grows with the listener--the gateway drug to thinking differently.
  7. Aug 2, 2013
    76
    It may be difficult to listen to, and even harder to stomach, but there is great reward in focusing on what happens in this deceptively hushed landscape that Hval has built, because for all its use of soft atmospherics and gentle, eiderdown-laced vocals, the album ultimately betrays the implication of a lifetime of misuse beneath its soothing dulcet tones and restrained palettes.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Jun 13, 2016
    10
    She's a poet and she makes music, each song seems to be taken from a movie, different from everything else I've listened to. The electronicShe's a poet and she makes music, each song seems to be taken from a movie, different from everything else I've listened to. The electronic elements fit the instruments and her sweet voice. A lullaby album? Something like Bjork's Vespertine? Expand
  2. Oct 24, 2014
    7
    The ideas behind this album are solid, but it isn't executed very well, similarly to Jenny's last album, Viscera. Hval's extremely intimateThe ideas behind this album are solid, but it isn't executed very well, similarly to Jenny's last album, Viscera. Hval's extremely intimate voice gets hard to listen to after a while. The instrumentals are a little dry, and some of the songs have pacing issues. It's interesting to listen to, however, and there are enough musical moments to make this album good. My favorite track was Give Me That Sound, which is the diamond in the rough of this album. It's very bold and creative, and it's awesome, but it's much shorter than the other tracks! If Hval wrote an album with all of the songs as good as that one, it would be 10. Expand