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"Jenny Hval\u2019s music sneaks up on you. Her latest album, \u201CInnocence is Kinky\u201D (Rune Grammofon), may at first seem pristine and icy, but give it time and it morphs into something more ragged and confrontational. The Norwegian artist uses her music to confront topics that people aren\u2019t all that comfortable with, especially sexuality and gender issues, and the bite comes through. In a recent phone conversation with ARTINFO, Hval talked about why she started recording under her own name, being labeled \u201Ctransgressive,\u201D and an album of sonnets that she never got around to.When did you start working on the new album?I released my previous album and had no shows booked, so I thought, \u201COh, I have to do something.\u201D That was the start of it, just having a bit of time. And then, I got offered to do a silent film concert \u2014 this is two years ago \u2014 and I had to compose all new music, so that was when a lot of the material started happening. I think a lot of the material has gone through different stages because I\u2019ve been working in different mediums \u2014 I\u2019ve been playing with my band for a long time, and working on my own for awhile doing sound installations, and writing a lot of text for a book and catalog. This project has just sort of kept coming with me to all those things.At what point did it start to take the form it was released in?I think that was probably the sound installation work. That was about a year ago. It was also called \u201CInnocence is Kinky,\u201D but it was a different entity from the album, and some of those ideas are still changing. I don\u2019t really like when things are not changing. A lot of my old music I can\u2019t play anymore. It\u2019s become boring. I like to keep alive the experience where something is happening, the creation of something.You\u2019ve released four albums, but the first two were recorded as Rockettothesky. Do you consider those separate from what you\u2019ve put out under your own name?No, it\u2019s the same project. It was just something I needed to get rid of to move on to more confrontational material. I got very sick of that name and it also felt like I was putting on some kind of armor by using a name that was very cutesy. It also had a bit of a phallic issue.Do you feel like you have more freedom recording under your own name?Using my own name, there\u2019s nothing more and nothing less; it\u2019s just what I do. I think it makes me think less about image. When I started recording stuff, which was kind of when I started to feel like a musician, I started recording and I didn\u2019t just record songs \u2014 I recorded a myriad of other things too, like spoken word pieces and sound design and lots of different things that didn\u2019t fit in a large setting with a band, or on an album that was a pop album.How do you feel about being labeled a transgressive artist?I\u2019ve always kind of reacted to any kind of label with a bit of disgust. I used to hate being a pop artist. I don\u2019t really mind what other people think of my music, but it\u2019s just that kind of labeling thing is easy to accept when it\u2019s someone else, and so hard to free yourself from when it\u2019s about you. I don\u2019t actually mind being called transgressive, although I\u2019m not sure I can follow up on the label with what I do next. I don\u2019t feel like I need to.Do you feel like people are trying to trap you in a box?Well, people do that all the time. But I guess that\u2019s a lot to do with how you trap yourself. I\u2019m always getting sick of what I\u2019ve been called for awhile, then I feel I need to do something that\u2019s not that. But as I grow older I hope I\u2019ll care less about it. I don\u2019t really think there\u2019s a hierarchy between forms. I used to think that pop music was on the lower end, and that being an experimental artist was higher up. It\u2019s not a sign of any kind of quality to be called experimental \u2014 it can be the opposite, it can just mean, \u201CI don\u2019t understand it.\u201DRegardless of what it\u2019s being called, it seems like your music makes people feel uncomfortable. Is this your intention?I think if I\u2019m trying to confront something, I do it as I work. The only person I\u2019d be confronting when I make things \u2014 unless it\u2019s in a live setting \u2014 is myself. So if there\u2019s a problem there, I probably have it as well. I guess at a certain level, I do want to confront. I\u2019m always torn between kind of creating a flow that\u2019s nice to listen to and interesting, and breaking that down and putting up a mirror \u2014 \u201CLook at yourself!\u201DSo you like making people uncomfortable?I do like that emotional response. And I like having that emotional response to other things as well. To other art. I think those moments are really valuable. And I really like experiencing them myself as a listener. At the moment I\u2019m really enjoying the YouTube comments to my latest video [for the title track]. I\u2019m constantly reading the comments. It\u2019s like a giant collective therapy session. I sometimes wonder why people comment when they just have this emotional outlook, but in this case I think it\u2019s very interesting, because people are showing a type of vulnerability. Some of them are of funny.&amp;nbsp; Some of them are just kind of like, \u201CI hate it,\u201D but some of them are showing insecurity.How have you noticed a change in yourself as an artist since the beginning of your career?I\u2019m making things that are more like the way I am, and less what I want to be like. When I started out, a lot of the songs were quite pretty. And I couldn\u2019t live with it. I think I have become freer, but it does take a lot of time. I kind of think, why didn\u2019t I do riot girl, because I\u2019m becoming more and more aggressive in my work.Where do you go from here?I\u2019m at a point where I\u2019m just doing stuff. I have no idea what it\u2019s about. We\u2019ll see. I\u2019m not very good at following up. When I say that I\u2019m doing something, I usually do something else afterwards. I once told a journalist I was about to do an album of sonnets, which I\u2019m very glad I didn\u2019t do, and probably will never do.This interview has been edited and condensed.Follow @BLOUIN_PA"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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