Jenny Hval has been spending her summer giving some wild festival performances, in which her music serves as the background for high-concept performance art demonstrations. But the songs themselves are every bit as mysterious and compelling. For instance, “Conceptual Romance,” the latest single from the Norwegian’s upcoming Blood Bitch, matches an alternately aggressive and hypnotic vocal melody with an ominous ethereal thump. The beautifully immersive swell of sound lends deep emotional weight to her intellectual musings about “a sexual holding pattern” and “abstract romanticism,” creating the effect of Björk throwing down at the sickest poetry slam in another dimension. Listen below.

Blood Bitch is out 9/30 Sacred Bones. Pre-order it digitally here to get “Conceptual Romance” instantly, or pre-order in CD/LP format here.