Jenny Hval can also break taboos. In 2015, when she sang about female masturbation in the song Take Care of Yourself, the editorial board of the British BBC had to sit down and agree that the public radio broadcast the song with an explicit indication of genitals. it was played on the air without modifications. One of the arguments was that there are more vulgar turns of phrase in the lyrics of rappers and no one calls councils because of it.
A year later, the Norwegian experimental musician, feminist and writer performed for the second time in Prague, where she preceded the better-known The xx in the sold-out Karlín Forum. Now he returns as the main star of the Alternativa festival, which has been bringing bold projects to the Czech Republic since the 1990s. This will also be the performance of Jenny Hval called I Want to Be a Machine, which will take place on November 16 in the Archa+ space in Prague, formerly known as the Archa Theatre. It will not be a classic concert, but a performance combining theater with songs and spoken word.
“In America, they described me as controversial, even perverse. But I don’t think so at all,” says Jenny Hval in an interview from her home in Oslo, Norway. “There are people who express themselves very loudly or use their bodies in a provocative way. Some people write about their own experiences, for example, how they were abused. I think in my case people find it provocative to describe the sensations,” he adds.
What she sings about is not her literal intimate experiences. “Sometimes I use details from my life, but mainly I try to capture how I hear it and how it affects me sensorially. I describe the world as a place where people are not distant from each other, I talk about smells, about bodily fluids that we exchange when we are standing next to each other on the tram. By all this, I am saying that we are somehow immortal, that I am not completely alone in this body, even though I am involved in everything around me,” she explains.
He doesn’t mention the smell randomly. It reminds her of how the human body can’t resist some things - smell as well as sound. “Even music is a kind of invasion, you can’t close your ears, just like you can’t not smell a scent,” he compares.
Get carried away
The fascination with the senses is reflected in her work. Jenny Hval’s hard-to-grasp songs, which have earned labels such as avant-garde music, alternative pop or experimental folk, can create the illusion of the heavy air of a forest saturated with water, for example. Synthesizers make the hairs on the back of listeners’ necks stand up. This is, for example, the case with the composition Lions, which the Norwegian musician composed with the South Asian sound designer Vivian Wang.
Previously, she sang about the position of women and their stereotypical portrayal, mythology, Joan of Arc, menstruation, but also the fear of death or loneliness. She does not want to reveal more about the exact form of the current project I Want to Be a Machine than that she will be accompanied on stage by several instrumentalists, a filmmaker and a woman spraying fragrance. “I like things for which you don’t have to download a lot of material, you just jump into it and let yourself be carried away. You don’t need to know my work, you’ll find everything in that performance,” she promises.
He already explains more willingly what questions he asks through this experimental form. It borrowed its name from the postmodern theater play Hamlet – a machine by the German playwright Heiner Müller, who in the 1970s deconstructed William Shakespeare’s classic work and transferred some motifs to the backdrop of post-apocalyptic East Germany. This is a famous material, the New York production was directed by the respected Robert Wilson, in the new millennium Müller’s drama was presented by the National Theater in Prague with Richard Krajč in the lead role.
The Norwegian artist was interested in the transfer of characters from one context to a completely different one and the situation where the audience recognizes conscious and unconscious connections in what is happening on stage and somehow has to interpret it. It came to her in something similar to popular music. He takes his performance as a commentary on what a concert is, what it means to stand on stage and to search for humanity in the dehumanized machine of show business. “I want to think critically about the machinery of the music industry, about what a show actually is, what it means to organize it and sell tickets, who is inside the hall and who is outside,” he calculates.
She herself has an ambivalent relationship to the topic. “I like to perform, but at the same time it’s kind of uncomfortable for me to have my own name on the poster,” she admits.
Video clip for the song Freedom from Jenny Hval’s latest album. | Video: 4AD Records
Don’t create alone
Forty-four-year-old Jenny Hval crossed genres already at the beginning of the millennium, when she went to Australia as a teenager. While studying creative writing and performance at the University of Melbourne, she started playing in her first bands. In an anglophone environment, she tried to cut herself off from her childhood in Norway, where she had previously grown up in a strongly religious community.
Although she was born into an atheist family, she sang in the church choir until the age of 13, heard that she would go to hell for unbelief, and topics such as sex were taboo. Maybe that’s why she started with hard music, specifically metal. “There were definitely times when I thought that I could write off everything I am and where I came from. Now I don’t think so anymore,” she looks back today.
She released her debut album in 2006. In the Anglo-Saxon world, her fourth album Innocence is Kinky, produced by John Parish, known for his collaboration with singer PJ Harvey, resonated. In addition, Jenny Hval preceded the better-known St. Vincent and earned comparisons to Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush and Björk.
Today, he has eight solo recordings to his credit. She also wrote three novels, the first of which, called Paradise Rot, was inspired by her stay in Australia. “Creating brings me back to me, to my body, to the moment I’m in, to my story. It helps me be a better author and a better person, it brings me back to opinions that are truly mine, because I am me. I’m a drop in a falling waterfall,” he illustrates.
Her output is wide-ranging, from her latest and most accessible, almost pop record Classic Objects from 2022 to the more meditative project Menneskekollektivet. She created it with her longtime partner Håvard Volden under the banner Lost Girls. A record with interconnected songs can evoke a book or long film footage. Some songs last up to a quarter of an hour. “I’m an only child, so maybe it’s my destiny to tell only one story. For a long time I felt that I needed to create and perform solo, but after a few years I stopped enjoying it. Even as a musician, I’m technically limited, so I’ve always chosen simplicity. But at one point I wanted to have a more sophisticated sound than I was able to create myself,” she explains.
Jenny Hval has been interested in politics since the terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011. “That was the moment when I started to pay much more attention to what is happening in my country and how my work is related to it. Big things always change you. Now she is in Genocide to Palestine – Norwegian society is very pro-Palestinian – and that changes our trust in humanity. Then you think, why bother with something as insignificant as art, if I shouldn’t just be an activist,” she thinks.
She used to think that art and activism could be connected, but now she doubts it. She does not like the transformation of public space, where, according to her, voices from social networks prevail. Jenny Hval doesn’t like them. “The networks force us to show our politics and our worldview through Instagram, when you don’t, it looks like you don’t care. But we need a public space where we can come together and be political. And for that we need art. We need things that are not easy can be boxed in. My show creates just such a space,” believes the Norwegian musician.
Video: Jenny Hval sings the song Year of Love
Video clip for the song Year of Love from Jenny Hval’s latest album. | Video: 4AD Records
Cal and social themes throughout her career, exploring complex issues through her music and writing. Her work is characterized by a willingness to engage with difficult subjects, from the personal to the political. In her latest project, she seeks to blend performance with critical commentary, challenging the norms of the music industry while also reflecting on her own artistic journey.
As she navigates these themes, Hval draws inspiration from her past experiences and the cultural contexts she inhabits. Her versatility as an artist allows her to weave together disparate elements—sound, performance, and narrative—into a cohesive expression that invites listeners to explore their own interpretations of her work.
Moreover, Hval’s approach emphasizes collaboration and the importance of community in the creative process. She recognizes that working with others can enrich her art, bringing in new perspectives and ideas that enhance the richness of her narratives. This evolution in her artistic philosophy mirrors the complexities of modern life, where interconnectedness and collaboration are increasingly vital.
Through her music, Jenny Hval continues to push boundaries, encouraging audiences to let go of preconceived notions and immerse themselves in the sensory experience she creates. As she invites listeners to get carried away by her performances, she also prompts deeper reflection on the world around them and their place within it.