'I came to take you back. To where you came from. But that's not what you want.'*
On 2018's album Dead Magic, Anna Von Hausswolff took one approach towards unhinging her vocal expression to quite an extreme degree, one where there was perhaps no point in pushing further at that particular doorway. Her response two years later, on All Thoughts Fly was to return to the simplicity of her own organ playing. Denuded of any need to vocalise, it was a series of dynamic instrumental pieces that conjured a sonically rich range of imaginative atmospheres. And so, after a five year hiatus, we now have, without much trumpeting fanfare, this new album Iconoclasts. Where has her music progressed to arrive at, in the meantime?
Well this sixth album is certainly bold as brass with confidence. Most of all this is truly BIG music. Its not lacking in extraordinary ambition. Iconoclasts is over an hour and a quarter in length, which might sound daunting or that someone's ego needed its feathers trimmed. But once you start listening time accommodates you and you become part of what feels like one huge musical piece with different intervals and tones touched upon. And it is full on right from the start. Once you are launched on Iconoclasts, its hard to put down and walk away, or cherry pick your way through your favourite tracks. Its just not that sort of album. sit down and listen to the whole thing in one sitting, and if you can't do that then go do something else for a while. This warrants your whole attention. This is not remotely suitable to be played in the background.
Whilst her earlier work was stuffed with sombre drone work and was certainly dramatically gothic in tone, it was never really conventionally goth. And Von Hausswolff never courts that association, nor presents herself as such. She has quite a quietly understated outward appearance, like a primary school supply teacher. Iconoclasts begins as it means to carry on. The Beast contains a distinctive motif from avant garde saxophonist Otis Sandsjo that resurfaces fully fleshed out later on, in Struggle with the Beast. Sandsjo's playing is splashed judiciously all over this album, providing all sorts of unusual colourations and angular tones. His free flowing style reminding me of the late Evan Parker.
This album has been loosely framed as her 'pop' album, which I would say is only so in spirit. There are magnificently ravishing tunes and pounding drumwork galore, but there is also an experimental edge, a willingness to go completely musically off piste if necessary. And what pop album has twelve tracks, an hour and a quarter running time, only two tracks which are under three minutes fifty and they are instrumentals, five tracks are over seven minutes long, and the title track Iconoclasts luxuriating in its eleven minutes fifteen seconds? It possesses a pop sensibility for sure, with an accessibility most notably on the duet with Ethel Cain -Aging Young Woman. If one were looking for something evidently mainstream and radio friendly.
However, if you are looking for massive slabs of sound, and emotions to match, here it all is. It's interesting that Florence & the Machine has a new album out the same day as this. In many ways they share a similar trajectory and liking for the grand emotional statement. Whilst Florence tends towards shrill bombast when she over reaches, Anna can have a greater impact as a result of taking it down a peg or two. Its hard to pick out favourite tracks from Iconoclasts, so I've made a selection that I thought best represented its range. This album is a huge achievement, and it has assumed the top of my best of 2025 already. Nothing else is going to quite match this, because this is magnificent.
CARROT REVIEW - 8/8
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