Jenny Hval

But hers is an exchange that veers in unexpected directions, and covers strange and fascinating ground. Given the gamut of her writing – from her early work under the moniker Rockettothesky to her most recent album, Apocalypse, Girl, and the two novels she has written – it is no surprise that words themselves hold particular interest for the Norwegian artist. Indeed, she finds the potential of words much more interesting then even herself.

“I’m really boring,” she laughs with a sigh. “There’s not much else to say. I’m much more interesting on an album. I’m on tour a lot, and touring is to me really interesting, but it’s also extremely boring if you just had to listen to what goes on in the course of a day. Having a real job in a normal life would probably be way more interesting to hear about. For me, it’s like, ‘We were in a car, we drove past some trees.’ I’m very much inside my brain – that’s where all of the exciting stuff is going on.

“It’s mostly in my imagination. So it probably seems quite boring on the outside, with lots of interesting stuff on the inside. During a day where I’m on tour, the most pleasant moment is when I’m actually playing, which is a very happy and very intense moment for me.” She pauses, then laughs again. “And hopefully the audience.”

Hval has developed a strong and vibrant fan base throughout Europe, and over the years that has gradually translated across the seas to our southern shores. Australia holds a rather unique space in Hval’s heart, and not only due to her several tours here. She lived in this country for many years, and studied Creative Writing and Performance at the University of Melbourne. While ‘homecoming’ may be too strong a term, the prospect of returning does conjure in her a certain Sliding Doors perspective.

“It’s been three years since I was in Australia last. I used to study there, so I was trying very hard to be Australian for about four years. But that was ten years ago now, and I’ve only been back twice. It’s just so far, and too expensive. Obviously it doesn’t go very well with the economy of being an artist, though it does go very well with touring, ’cause then you get to go to these places. So I’m extremely excited about coming back and playing some shows and playing some festivals.

“I have this alternative life in my head that I can’t really let go of. It’s what happens when you live somewhere else – you kind of invent the parallel existence where I never came back to Europe and I spent my whole life in Australia, and I reconnect with that idea whenever I go back. I definitely have an Australian longing with me at all times, and I have a lot of friends there still I’m hoping to see again. Some of my favourite people live there.”

Describing Hval’s sound is not the simplest of feats. Broadly, you can list her as pop artist, though that doesn’t quite encapsulate either her live show or album aesthetic. She is often referred to as an avant-garde performer, someone whose history spans genres as disparate as gothic metal and electric folk. Labelling music is a rather restrictive task at the best of times, and Hval herself is quite happy to shrug off such names and let others judge for themselves.

“I think [these terms] are a combination of what people hear in the music, combined with which words are in people’s heads right now anyway. Maybe at some point that is electric folk, or experimental, whatever. It’s more about which words people are already talking about, about the words that are already out there being used in music. It’s very much a conversation, and this labelling of art has more to do with other things than the work itself. So that makes it easier to just think of whatever people say is whatever they’re into. People tell me what they think I sound like, and it’s really a reference to their iTunes. I’m just happy that they want to say something at all, that they have something to share.”

Although English-speaking audiences currently have her music to enjoy, Hval’s books have yet to find their way into translation. It seems a shame, given the focus and intensity with which she greets the written word; reading her prose would be quite a ride.

“I can work on my music wherever I am, it’s always on my mind. But to write a longer piece, something meant to make sense across this incredible overview, I’m drawn towards having large chunks of time when I can sit and write every day. Speaking is boring – it’s like being in prison, really. “Just sitting, writing for hours every day – I love that and dream of doing it.

“But then, I also love to play and tour and record, which is a much more fragmented and emotional experience. Those are quite different, although I’ve done projects on top of each other, and it all becomes one world. I guess there’s the practical side of things, and then there’s the imagination. And that’s always wild.”