Jenny Hval is a Norwegian artist and writer. With her background in writing and performance her music is poetic, sensual, challenging, dark and beautiful as well as melodic and spacious. "Viscera" is set in the body. The songs are stories of flesh and travelling, both sensual and provocative. She wanted to make free music, without a conceptual framework, but realised after recording the album that all the songs deal with travelling in one way or another. Some songs have a modernist protagonist - an unknown and yet present I - whereas other songs take place in the body, visceral travelling. Inside becomes outside, the body is turned inside out. The music for "Viscera" was composed and arranged by improvising. It follows the lyrics wherever they go: spoken word, surrealist folk tales, or just plain provocative imagery. Modernist fantasy? Fantastic anatomy? "Viscera" is the first album using her own name. In 2006, Hval released her successfull debut album "To Sing You Apple Trees" under the moniker Rockettothesky. The album received rave reviews and became a surprise hit with its mix of pop, poetry and rampant sexuality. She was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy in the Best New Act category and she played most of the big Norwegian festivals in 2007, as well as shows and small festivals in UK and Europe. With her second album, "Medea" (2008, also as Rockettothesky), a different and more experimental tone was set. Hval invoked the greek tragic heroine Medea - the monstrous mother, powerful sorceress, and foreign woman - through spoken word and improvised sound textures. She also started playing live with free improv musicians Håvard Volden (guitar) and Kyrre Laastad (drums & percussion). Since the release of "Medea", Hval has completed several other projects: composing and performing the commissioned piece "Meshes of Voice" with singer and composer Susanna Wallumrod (Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) for Ladyfest 2009, composing and performing at the Ultima Festival for Contemporary Music, published the slightly controversial novel "Perlebryggeriet" ("The Pearl Brewery", 2009) and started a free folk/improv duo with Håvard Volden (Nude on Sand).