“I was accustomed to music just being something you listened to and that’s it, you enjoy it. But when I found out about The Residents and Diamanda Galas and Throbbing Gristle and all these bands it made you feel a certain way that wasn’t just pleasant radio music. That blew me away.”
Talking of discomfort, there are moments in your music that are genuinely frightening. for example the EP you did with Burial Hex there’s snatches of noises that, if you listen to on headphones in a dark room, will freak you out. Do you actively want to shock listeners?
“Absolutely. I think that there’s a lot of music these days that is really pleasant and really easy to listen to. There are people that are making music that is uncomfortable and I want to contribute to just making honest that isn’t putting the listener in denial about anything. Maybe it’s scary, maybe it’s unpleasant but it’s honest and it’s not going to put anyone in denial…”
Are there any records that have stood out for you, that have disturbed you?
“The Residents have done that for me, they’re so brilliant. The first time I listened to them I listened to their record Eskimo and it was just, as a child listening to it, it was so far out. I loved how they made me feel, I was blown away that music could make you feel that way. I was accustomed to music just being something you listened to and that’s it, you enjoy it. But when I found out about The Residents and Diamanda Galas and Throbbing Gristle and all these bands it made you feel a certain way that wasn’t just pleasant radio music. That blew me away.”
Nika getting covered in chocolate syrup for the Stridulum II sleeve photo
“It mostly has to do with confronting yourself as a human and learning to find your place in the world.”
You’re from Wisconsin and you grew up in the country. How has this environment influenced you as an artist?
“It’s really shaped me in a unique way because growing up I was close to a normal-sized city but I didn’t live there, I lived in the country. I often didn’t have a lot of opportunity to go to that city just because I didn’t drive and so when I grew up, I grew up learning to be alone and learning to have my family. My family values are very strong, I’m very close to them, and they became all I really needed.
“I never had that desire to socialise or be with people my age, and that made me made me feel really comfortable with being alone and locking myself in my room and playing music or singing for hours and hours and hours. It just made me focus more on myself and learning, in my house we had a library and I would constantly be reading a book. That’s what I did as a child.”
What kind of books did you read?
“I read classics when I was younger, because I felt like you need to get everything out of the way. I always think of the 18th century, you had to develop yourself as a person, to be a Romantic. You had to be well versed and play piano, you could sing and you could play chess and you would have a knowledge of all these certain subjects. I just tried to learn everything so I could be like that perfect 18th century woman, you know?”
You studied philosophy – are there any ways of thinking that have left a lasting impression on you?
“That’s a big question. There are plenty but it mostly has to do with confronting yourself as a human and learning to find your place in the world. To me the ideas are really simple but they’re the ones people ignore because they’re the most difficult. I mean, people give themselves reasons for why they’re here, but when you realise you’re here for no reason, that’s the most difficult thing to accept because you should really take control and figure out what you want.”
Louise Brailey