Jenny Hval

Jenny Hval (b. 1980) has in recent years made a name for herself as a writer, journalist, recording artist and sound artist both in Norway and abroad. When her third record Viscera was released in 2011, WIRE magazine described the record as: “a stunning achievement both conceptually and musically.” Multidisciplinary and transgressive are words often employed to describe her art, but Jenny Hval’s polyphonic artistry is in fact seamlessly interwoven between musical, literary, visual and performative modes of expression. Despite her young age, she has already infused, carved and modulated an artistic voice that is altogether present, accessible and obscurely complex at the same time.

Jenny Hval studied Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne, and Literature at the University of Oslo. She has released the albums To Sing You Apple Trees (Trust Me Records, 2006) and Medea (Trust Me Records 2008) under the alias Rockettothesky. Viscera (Rune Grammofon 2011) was released under her own name. 2012 saw the release of the debut album of Hval’s band project, Nude On Sand, in which she collaborates with Håvard Volden. Jenny Hval made her debut as a writer with the book Perlebryggeriet (‘The Pearl Brewery’) in 2009, followed by Inn i ansiktet (“Sings with her eyes”) in 2012. Alongside this she has contributed to magazines and newspapers like Vinduet, ENO, Bergens Tidende and Klassekampen. In 2010 Hval contributed to the artwork War Song by the American artists Valerie Tevere and Angel Nevarez that was performed during the Ultima Festival in Oslo that year. In 2011 she created the sound installation ENTER/Flesh for the bigger installation ENTER Sonic Tank at Tou Scene in Stavanger, followed by Innocence is kinky (2012, commissioned by Henie Onstad Art Centre) and A continuous echo of splitting hymens (2012, for the group exhibition MURMUR at Akershus Kunstsenter). In collaboration with the writer Inger Bråtveit she has also created several works between performance, music and literature, the most recent being Kvit Søppel (‘White Trash’, 2011).

Her fourth album, Innocence Is Kinky (2013), was recorded at Toybox Studios, Bristol, with producer John Parish, lauded for his work with PJ Harvey, Giant Sand and Sparklehorse.