Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 20
  2. Negative: 0 out of 20
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  1. Jun 2, 2015
    90
    The world it creates is in many ways richer, more affecting and bolder than the ones that came before.
  2. Jun 11, 2015
    80
    The intimate collection of low-key art pop is gloriously weird and deeply human.
  3. Jun 10, 2015
    80
    Hval continues to cleverly connect, and explicitly comment on, matters of sex and politics on her third album.
  4. Jun 8, 2015
    80
    With Norwegian noise artist Lasse Marhaug producing, Hval walks a tightrope over melodic, sometimes lush pop music surrounded by dissonance straight out of a horror film.
  5. Jun 8, 2015
    80
    Apocalypse, Girl is the thrilling sound of an artist expressing herself without the slightest hint of self-censorship. It’s one of the year’s most individual and original albums.
  6. Jun 8, 2015
    80
    Both her songs and her subject matter hold back from shocking the listener by virtue of their content, and yet they make a startling impact--creating a headspace that leads to nowhere in the same moment that it paves the way to salvation.
  7. Jun 8, 2015
    80
    You may squirm at times, but it is almost impossible to look away.
  8. 80
    Apocalypse, Girl is at once plaintive, savagely ironic and disconcertingly funny.
  9. The Wire
    Jun 5, 2015
    80
    Out of a dangerous, pitfall-laden area of song, she makes a variety of riches. [Jun 2015, p.48]
  10. Jun 5, 2015
    80
    Compared to 2013's Innocence Is Kinky, Apocalypse, Girl is less noisy and more thematically united.
  11. Jun 4, 2015
    80
    The album wrestles with many of the same ideas [as 2013's Innocence Is Kinky], set against an erotic sonic futurescape of spoken word, warped choirs, sci-fi electronics and her typically pillow-soft vocals.... It’s provocative, but these are ideas rarely heard in pop, which makes it all the more compelling.
  12. Jun 2, 2015
    80
    This album deserves the attention of a penetrative PhD dissertation. [Apr-May 2015, p.83]
  13. Uncut
    Jun 2, 2015
    80
    Despite the odd moment when you're not sure quite what she's on about, she still stabs like a stiletto. [Jul 2015, p.77]
  14. Jun 9, 2015
    79
    Like all of her best work, it finds new ways to provoke, and new parts of your brain to light up.
  15. Jun 8, 2015
    75
    Apocalypse, girl is an understated mesh of free jazz and artful improvisation, guiding us out of the nightmare capitalism has dreamed for us and into sexual liberation and individual rebirth.
  16. Jun 12, 2015
    70
    Apocalypse, girl is a shift toward orchestral pop after the noisy rock of 2013's Innocence Is Kinky, but Hval loses none of her avant-garde inclinations in the process.
  17. Jun 8, 2015
    70
    The tracks on Apocalypse, girl flow into one another like smooth, glassy water, and the collaborations, with improv cellist Okkyung Lee, harpist Rhodri Davis and Swans' Thor Harris, add texture.
  18. Jun 5, 2015
    70
    You have to turn Girl up loud to hear the 'meshes of voice' that make this a more complex album than on first impression.
  19. Serene on the surface, but disturbed deep down.
  20. Mojo
    Jun 10, 2015
    60
    Sumptuous, but still challenging. [Jul 2015, p.92]
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 41
  2. Negative: 3 out of 41
  1. Sep 24, 2015
    10
    Beautifully balanced record, that becomes better each time I listen. Jenny's voice perfectly fits with the electronic soundscapes on thisBeautifully balanced record, that becomes better each time I listen. Jenny's voice perfectly fits with the electronic soundscapes on this weird record. Best tracks: Heaven | That Battle Is Over | Why This? Full Review »
  2. Feb 11, 2022
    7
    Jenny has a gift at creating world's rich with ethereal and mostly eerie world's. Tackling big concept themes such as sex ,capitalism,genderJenny has a gift at creating world's rich with ethereal and mostly eerie world's. Tackling big concept themes such as sex ,capitalism,gender and identity so fluidly it never feels didactic. Provoking with each song. The opener "kingsize" is an obscure dissertation on gender roles, masculinity and music. When she softly speaks"soft dick rock " it's not an ear grabbing meaningless start but a challenge. She's staring the systemic hold that suffocates the medium she pours herself into for expression, satisfaction &work and pulls out it's little insecurities . Whilst most of the song seems to be the awakening of something within someone. Followed by the fantastic early higlight "take care of yourself "is a concise search for what to find comfort in and if it can be a terrestrial achievement. It's a astonishing melodic moment only exceeded by the centerpiece "that battle is over". The third song is a cynical sequel to "take care of yourself "fillled with somehow funny and depressing observations. The humour bares itself in the shrill anorexia in "you say im free now/the battle is over and feminism over&socialism over ,yeah/i say and can consume what i want now" which although siphoned from an experience Jenny remembered after a feminist documentary about how people thought the pasts struggles had been won and people had to move past that. It creats a sharp edge over the other concepts she added. The latter half takes a lean harder on abstract structures and ambience. "White Underground " is sinister sonic interlude before the unsettling weird art pop of her singing "heeeeeveannnnn". Expectedly it address loss&death with a sublime eloquence. "Somedays " might seem like a filler interlude but the image it paints and the produced sound around how it is delivered make it an unravelling of sorts ,one that flows into it's fuller half on "Sabbath ". A continuation of the biblical imagery. It's a form of stream-of-consciousness that builds to a satisfying plateau. The final report got him from everything. Full Review »
  3. Jun 12, 2015
    0
    Nowdays people call MUSIC anything that produces noises. I just can't call this music when I can't find any melody or harmony on it. WorseNowdays people call MUSIC anything that produces noises. I just can't call this music when I can't find any melody or harmony on it. Worse yet, some people give this album a rating over 50. Full Review »