Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2019, Page 40

Bees, Beauty And
Anarchy In The
Bleak North
The influences that lie behind the world of IDK IDA
Ida Schuften Juhl is IDK IDA, a young pro-
ducer, performer, artist and organiser
who has become a firm favourite at the
Reykjavík Grapevine. Her debut album,
‘The Bug,’ is out now, and she has some
stunning new material in the works,
which you can experience by seeing her
play live. We asked Ida to tell us about a
few influences that made her the artist
she is today.
Freaky sounds
and playfulness
My musical background is very in-
fluenced by spending my early youth
watching music video charts on the
TV. For me, the ‘00s pop music was
more edgy than we remember. The
videos caught my attention as a kid,
but sometimes a track would catch
my attention, too; Missy Elliot ’s
“Work It,” Pharrell Williams/Snoop
Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and
Timbaland. They have playfulness
and push the boundaries of music.
Cries of emotion, duduk
and soundtracks
My first music passion was Irish folk
music, where the structure revolves
around a theme that morphs into an-
other, with small motifs gluing it to-
gether. The scales that got carved into
me derive from the use of Armenian
duduk flute in movie soundtracks to
express sorrow and fatefulness. I re-
member very clearly watching ‘The
Gladiator’ and I suppose my passion
for translating emotions started there.
Technological progress
and industrial rock
Had it not been for the technological
progress and fairly cheap production
equipment, IDK IDA wouldn’t have come
to be. Developing your own sound world
and techniques creates some unique
takes on music. This has also generated
a whole new segment of DIY artists and
ideology, with more anarchy. I’m attract-
ed to the idea of breaking up conserva-
tive views of instrumentation, and—to a
certain extent—being able to go around
the conservatism of the music business.
Aesthetics and the far north
From the Western Sea in Denmark to
Reykjavík’s endless cranes and Ice-
land’s alien nature, there’s beauty in a
harsh landscape. Moving far away from
home when I was young had difficul-
ties for me, but also presented an op-
portunity to give less of a damn. The
scarab beetle is a personal symbol of
that. We roll our dung and we shine,
and shining has invited all sorts of
neon and fluffy pink into my life.
The forgotten
Being on this journey has matured me
into a passionate feminist. I’m asked
on a frequent basis if I make everything
myself. I’ve become very aware of wo-
mens’ space in music, art and society
in general. It’s an incredibly important
issue. One example is how The Grand-
mothers of electronic music haven’t
received the recognition they should;
Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, Su-
zanne Ciani and Else Marie Pade, whose
work has been overlooked—because
the focus of history is men. Women are
thought of as less capable, and taken
less seriously. There’s a lot to fight for
still. It should never be surprising that
a woman produces everything herself.
A combination of it all
and end notes
There would be no IDK IDA without Björk
and her groundbreaking work, without
Thom Yorke’s ‘The Eraser,’ or Mark Bell
and his insane productions. When all
these things are added up, a develop-
ment becomes evident—a combination
of it all. I’ve also found communities of
daring and playful souls that see oppor-
tunities instead of obstacles, which is
one of the biggest pillars in the making
of an artist. Everything feels possible
here, most of the time—it isn’t far from
idea to execution. From the Weird Kids
collective, to setting up Háskar on Good
Friday, or an unofficial show at a gallery
during Iceland Airwaves. Or the exciting
achievements of post-dreifing, of course.

Psychoacoustics and friction
Reading scientific papers on random
topics is something I enjoy. The lyrics
of my song ‘Bees’ Riot’ are inspired by
a gory article about how the society of
a bumble bee hive can collapse. My in-
terest in field recordings was sparked
by an article on psychoacoustics. The
ear recognises the pattern and frequen-
cies of a sound we know from our sur-
roundings in a way that differs from
digitally generated sound. But if a
field recording has been manipulated,
played backwards or chopped up, the
ear will pick up on it, unsure of what
it just heard. I had no idea what I’d just
heard when I first heard ‘Selmasongs.’
It’s an interesting mechanism that
speaks to the primal side of our brains.
40The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09— 2019Making Of An Artist
Musician
Listen to IDK IDA’s
debut album ‘The
Big’ at idkida.
bandcamp.com,
and look out for
new material this
year.
ArtisAn BAkery
& Coffee House
Open everyday 6.30 - 21.00
Laugavegur 36 · 101 reykjavik
Words:
John Rogers &
Ida Schuften
Juhl
Photo:
Art Bicnick
IDK IDA: A rising star in the electronic music scene
“Everything
feels possible
here, most of
the time.”