Jenny Hval's song "Amphibious, Androgynous" is a dream-like exploration of desire and identity. The narrator dreams of a slippery, amphibious lover with seaweed between their fingers and limbs. The lover is both male and female, a fluid androgynous being that is 98% water. Despite the narrator's attempts to write love songs, their words fall short and their hands fail them. The dream takes a dark turn when the narrator imagines a lover made of twigs, snapping their legs and lips during a kiss. This worries the narrator, as the dream persists and the twigs keep breaking. The dream ends with the twigs coughing up black sap and the narrator realizing they have not even seen the lover up close in real life. The song then moves to the next day, where the narrator feels themselves becoming like the black things they consume: coffee, raisins, and raw chocolate. They burn to coal and oil, becoming more like the amphibious, androgynous lover of their dream. Overall, the song explores the fluidity of desire and identity, as well as the transformative power of dreams and the consumption of certain substances.
