Jenny Hval

Jenny Hval channels an inquisitive, fervent, and perceptive outlook on art, feminism, and sexuality through both her compositions and her literary output as a singer/songwriter and author. Her gentle singing voice stands in stark opposition to bold declarations, much like the fluid blends of folk, jazz, spoken word, and electronic elements that prove both innovative and accessible. Dreamlike soundscapes merged with an unwavering autonomous stance on releases including the 2012 album Innocence Is Kinky. Various musical genres served as perspectives through which she explored her ideas over time. Synth pop, metal, and horror soundtracks appeared on Blood Bitch from 2017, while The Practice of Love in 2019 reimagined the bliss associated with '90s trance, and Classic Objects in 2022 reflected more straightforward compositional approaches influenced by '80s pop. As a frequent partner in joint projects, Hval finds equal importance in efforts such as the 2014 Meshes of Voice alongside Susanna Wallumrød and the 2021 Lost Girls release Menneskekollektivet compared to her individual recordings.

Oslo native Hval drew early inspiration from Kate Bush, Jimmy Somerville, and the ambitious, androgynous feel of '80s pop before taking up the keyboard. During her teens she performed as a member of the goth band Shellyz Raven, then relocated to Australia for creative writing studies at the University of Melbourne, where she joined iPanic and Folding for Air while capturing her own material on a three-track recorder. After returning to Norway she issued the 2006 debut EP Cigars, which earned a nomination in the Best Newcomer category at that year's Spellemannprisen awards. That same year she began recording as Rockettothesky, releasing To Sing You Apple Trees on Trust Me Records, followed two years later by the second Rockettothesky album, Medea. In 2009 she published the novel Perlebryggeriet ("The Pearl Brewery").

Hval launched her solo career under her own name with the aptly raw and dreamy April 2011 Rune Grammofon debut Viscera, which climbed to number 24 on Norway's charts. The following year the largely acoustic collaboration with Håvard Volden, Nude on Sand, issued its self-titled debut album, and her second book, Inn i ansiktet ("Sings with Her Eyes"), appeared in October 2012. Her second album, April 2013's Innocence Is Kinky, featured production by John Parish and incorporated gritty indie rock to underscore its uncompromising thoughts on sexuality. Beyond earning critical acclaim, the record reached number 31 on the Norwegian charts. In 2014 Hval teamed with Susanna Wallumrød on Meshes of Voice, issued on Wallumrød's SusannaSonata label.

For her next solo album Hval drew inspiration from late-'60s Norwegian jazz singers, Todd Haynes' film Safe, and her upbringing in Norway's Bible Belt. The results, Apocalypse, Girl, arrived in 2015 on Sacred Bones. Jazz also played a major part in her next project, 2016's In the End His Voice Will Be the Sound of Paper. An experimental piece with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Kim Myhr, it was sparked by a discussion of Bob Dylan's voice. Hval returned with her fourth album under her own name in October 2016. Co-produced by Lasse Marhaug, Blood Bitch was inspired by exploitation and horror films of the '70s, Hval's experiences touring her previous release, and the goth and metal scenes of her homeland.

The following year she contributed vocals to pieces by Kelly Lee Owens and Lindstrøm and worked with Carmen Villain on her album Infinite Avenue. In March 2018 she debuted the project Lost Girls, another collaboration with Volden that emphasized the most improvisatory aspects of their work on the album Feeling. That May she returned with The Long Sleep, an EP of jazz-influenced tracks featuring Volden, Marhaug, and players including percussionist Kyrre Laastad, pianist Anja Lauvdal, and trumpeter Eivind Lønning. That year she issued the novel Å hate Gud ("Girls Against God"), while Perlebryggeriet was published in English as Paradise Rot. In September 2019 Sacred Bones released The Practice of Love, which found Hval combining the sound of '90s trance music with searching songwriting about love, creativity, and existence. Girls Against God, the English translation of Å hate Gud, was published in November 2020. The following March Lost Girls released their exploratory debut album, Menneskekollektivet (Norwegian for "human collective"), on Smalltown Supersound.

In March 2022 Hval returned with her first album for 4AD, Classic Objects. Drawing from Hval's need to tell simpler stories in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic as well as Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints and the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Alice Coltrane, the record also featured some of her most traditional, verse and chorus-based songwriting.