Revered Swedish musician and composer Anna von Hausswolff has revealed her new lead singles “Stardust” and “The Whole Woman”, a moving duet with Iggy Pop. Of “Stardust”, von Hausswolff comments, “Let’s break up with basic convenience and established ideas of how to live life. Let’s not roll our thumbs when the world is crumbling.”
They come from her new album ICONOCLASTS, her first release with YEAR0001, due October 31. Throughout the years her releases cemented her as an artist of unpredictable and vast creativity – always moving forward, always melding tradition with experimentation in unimaginable ways.
Taking the pipe organ, with its ancient whirring character, as her instrument of choice, von Hausswolff’s sound has long played with the ethereal qualities of breath: of taking in, holding, and releasing it. This sometimes takes the form of colossal, doom-laden rock songs, and at other times, as intimate organ pieces. On ICONOCLASTS, her sound evolves again, bringing a poppier and more vibrant element to her moving songs. Produced by von Hausswolff and longtime collaborator Filip Leyman, it is an opus of stirring movement, anthemic ritualism, and maximalist composition, marking a new chapter in von Hausswolff’s music and featuring appearances from Ethel Cain, Abul Mogard, Iggy Pop and Maria von Hausswolff.
Discussing “The Whole Woman”, she reflects: “Sometimes we need to throw ourselves into the deepest of waters and hold our breath as long as we can. Once we reach the surface we can see beyond the pettiness of life and speak only the truth. This love song is a tribute to the man who knows how to listen; it is for the woman who is brave enough to dive in.”
ICONOCLASTS begins with brass heralding out, beckoning listeners into the boundless story that is about to unfold. From this, the groundwork is set for an album of blistering, mounting tension and hard-fought, euphoric release. Addressing themes of love, freedom, and autonomy, its title, ICONOCLASTS, hints at a shattering and reimagining of the sacred personal symbols that bubble under the surface of contemporary life: commitment, time, dependency, and belief.
