Rockettothesky
Intimate, avant-garde folk that feels like a whispered secret. Ethereal vocals meet sparse, experimental textures for deep, solitary contemplation.
Intimate, avant-garde folk that feels like a whispered secret. Ethereal vocals meet sparse, experimental textures for deep, solitary contemplation.
Rockettothesky sounds like the intersection of a quiet forest and a modern art gallery. It is music that prioritizes the breath, the pause, and the unsettling beauty of the abstract. Jenny Hval's early work under this moniker captures a specific type of Scandinavian melancholy that isn't just sad, but deeply curious and slightly surreal.
What makes this project distinctive is the way it treats the human voice as a literary instrument. Rather than standard pop hooks, you get spoken-word fragments, sudden shifts in register, and a sense of physical intimacy that feels almost uncomfortably close. The production is skeletal, using electronics not to drive a beat, but to create a shifting, murky atmosphere around the acoustic foundations.
Start with 'To Sing You Apple Trees' to hear the transition from folk-inspired songwriting into something much stranger. It is the perfect entry point for those who love music that rewards close, undivided attention and a willingness to sit with ambiguity.
Jenny Hval ( vaal, born 11 July 1980) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, and novelist. She has released nine solo albums, two under the alias Rockettothesky and seven under her own name. In 2015, Hval released her fifth studio album, Apocalypse, Girl, to widespread critical acclaim on the label Sacred Bones. She followed with several well-received solo albums on Sacred Bones and later 4AD Records. Under the name Lost Girls, Hval has released two full-length collaborative studio albums – Menneskekollektivet (2021) and Selvutsletter (2023) – with her husband and musical partner Håvard Volden. After initially studying literature and working as a freelance columnist and writer, Jenny Hval has published four novels, Perlebryggeriet (Pearl Brewery) (2009, translated into English as Paradise Rot: A Novel), Inn i ansiktet (Into the Face) (2012), Å hate Gud (To Hate God) (2018, translated into English as Girls Against God) and Gott hassen (2023).
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