Jenny Hval
Jenny Hval is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and novelist. She has released seven solo albums, two under the alias Rockettothesky, and five under her own name.
In 2015, Hval released her fifth studio album, Apocalypse, girl, to widespread critical acclaim. The following year, she released Blood Bitch, a concept album influenced by vampires, menstruation and 1970s horror films.
Music career
Until 1999, Hval was the vocalist of a gothic metal band called Shellyz Raven. She studied at the University of Melbourne, Australia, specializing in creative writing and performance. While studying, she was vocalist in Australian bands iPanic and Folding For Air with Thomas McGowan releasing an EP "Are you afraid of heights?" in 2004.Moving back to Norway, she released her debut EP Cigars in 2006, and was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the "best newcomer" category. Adopting the name Rockettothesky, she was signed to Trust Me Records, releasing two studio albums – To Sing You Apple Trees in 2006, and Medea in 2008.
Following the release of Medea, she went back to using her birth name. Signing on the label Rune Grammofon, she released the albums Viscera and Innocence Is Kinky. In 2015 she released her third album, Apocalypse, girl on New York City's Sacred Bones Records. Her solo music has been described as avant-garde, art-pop, and "a kind of experimental folk music," among others terms. She has also collaborated with Håvard Volden, as Nude on Sand, releasing a self-titled album in 2012, and with Susanna Wallumrød, which resulted in a 2014 album Meshes of Voice. She supported St. Vincent on a tour.
In 2016 she released the album Blood Bitch where she collaborates with Lasse Marhaug. The album was awarded the Phonofile Nordic Music Prize in 2017. The judges released a statement calling the album "engrossing, atmospheric, challenging and thought-provoking." In 2018 she collaborated with Volden again under the name Lost Girls, to release an EP entitled Feeling.
In September 2019, Hval released her seventh album, The Practice of Love, featuring guest vocals from Vivian Wang, formerly of the psych rock band The Observatory, Australian singer-songwriter Laura Jean, and French experimental musician Félicia Atkinson.
Writer
Jenny Hval published her novel Perlebryggeriet in 2009, and has also published article works in journals and anthologies, after studying literature and working as a freelance columnist and writer. An English edition, Paradise Rot: A Novel was translated by Marjam Idriss and published by Verso in October 2018.Discography
Studio albums
As RockettotheskyAs Jenny Hval
With Nude on Sand
| Title | Album details |
| Nude on Sand |
|
EPs
As Rockettothesky| Title | Album details |
| Cigars |
|
| Title | Album details |
| Feeling |
|
| Title | Album details |
| The Long Sleep |
|