Iris Silver Mist

The experience is heady, gliding, interior, sensuous, and polymathic.

Meditative at times and invigorating at others, Iris Silver Mist is a delight for the senses, a reminder to pause and luxuriate in the fleeting, extravagant now.

The clarity heard on this album can be interpreted as a sharpened edge in Hval. She collapses the space of the album into a single sensory experience; she conveys something unsearchable but found.

“I don’t know why I’m up here”, Hval ponders amid ebullient synths on “A Ballad”. “Lay Down” envelops her voice in a fluttering of strings and muted pads as it sifts through painful memories: “By the bed in palliative care/You had bled through your jeans” . Elsewhere, “The Artist Is Absent” paraphrases Marina Abramović, transforming presence into absence while juxtaposing low key ontological devastation with banging beats. [Jun 2025, p.52]

Like all of Hval’s work, this isn’t an album to listen to as background music, or pick and choose what tracks to listen to. It’s an album to immerse yourself in (a real ‘headphones listen’) and just surrender to for 42 minutes.

Alluring and thought-provoking, Iris Silver Mist plays the heart notes expertly.

An exquisite, sometimes spectacular achievement rich with emotive resonance. [Jun 2025, p.80]

An album that feels delicately versatile, as well as a truly singular bit of leftfield art pop. [Jun 2025, p.33]

Impermanence is a symptom of transformation; on Iris Silver Mist, Hval extols this reality, inviting us to seek out the beauty in each stage.

Hval is unafraid to experiment and let the chips fall where they may. The results on Iris Silver Mist are variable but always intriguing.