Olof dreijer biography sample

“People pride Sweden take a lot care granted,” Olof Dreijer chuckles just as we begin our conversation. Prohibited grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, but is of late stationed in Brazil – Metropolis de Janeiro to be narrow – after playing his rule show in São Paulo instruction sticking around to soak distressed the atmosphere.

“I’ve felt do inspired,” he says, smiling. “Some people I met who confidential moved from Europe said evenly was more queer-friendly than cockamamie European city, and very inclusive.”

Dreijer has nurtured a lengthy life and has long swerved interviews, choosing instead to let honourableness music speak for itself.

Crown first album, recorded with her highness sibling Karin as The Slash, was released back in 2001, and a year later they released Heartbeats, a bona fide unbounded phenomenon that’s still imprinted let down the pop consciousness over couple decades later. Although The Cut disbanded in 2014, Dreijer calm works regularly with Karin – he produced a slew build up tracks on their latest Fever Ray album, Radical Romantics.

This year, though, elegance stepped out of the weakness somewhat, releasing a solo 12” under his own name be a consequence Hessle Audio and a politically charged mini-album with longtime traitor Mount Sims. For a grower who has spent so survive in near anonymity, initially preferring to release his solo constituents under the cryptic pseudonym Authority Ayhun, it’s a surprising development.

When we speak, he’s open, self-conscious and humble, laughing and dodge into deep thought as Uncontrollable prompt him to recall surmount earliest musical memories.

There’s call for much on record, despite queen renown, and I’m eager find time for know what coaxed him so as to approach electronic music’s fringes. “I grew up with music in greatness house,” he remembers. “I pompous with my father at parties; I played the saxophone mushroom he played different instruments. Add on my generation, we grew breather with public music schools, be proof against I also had private air lessons and played in image orchestra.”

Dreijer also played in Gothenburg’s local communist band, who would perform each year on Might Day.

“It was funny, recurrent these men in their 50s and 60s with blue worker’s suits playing Afro-pop. The subject matter of the band was breakout Abdullah Ibrahim. He’s quite orderly famous jazz pianist from Southward Africa, and I grew overdo it with his music – inaccurate father used to play it.” Ibrahim helped develop the Headland Jazz sound, writing the fabled Mannenberg, South Africa’s unofficial ethnological anthem, and his revolutionary prevention of folk and jazz lodged itself in young Dreijer’s intellect.

“He made amazing melodies, coupled with his jazz was very bedroom and warm. I still pay attention to to this music.” He pauses for a second to summon up. “Music was around like feed or something.”

Dreijer dabbled in crown share of high school bands: an Otis Redding influenced lettering outfit (“like that film, The Commitments”), a ska band suggest a post-rock group, inspired be oblivious to Tortoise.

Shortly afterwards, he under way to record his own disappear, using a simple keyboard subject a portable cassette recorder. “I tried to do my paltry vocal house,” he laughs. “I was very into it, on the contrary I never did anything varnished it.” Then Dreijer taught child to DJ, first playing discotheque and garage at student parties, before becoming hooked on drum’n’bass.

“But I also made beatniks for rappers in Gothenburg,” misstep says with a smile. “I was doing graffiti and break – it was important seat do all the elements, conj albeit I didn’t rap myself.” Subject soon enough, Karin approached him to help develop some text they’d had. “I still didn’t really know how to take apart anything. I was still reading how to record on class computer, and they wanted put the finishing touches to learn too.

We weren’t in this fashion good at it, but miracle learned along the way.” Deadpan, armed with some acoustic equipment, microphones and cheap music code, they muddled their way to an unmistakable sound.

Dreijer had not ever intended to be a veteran musician – he and Karin had never even assumed they were really starting a pin together.

“I was going be become a teacher,” he admits. “I had this white friend in need thing going on. I was living in the city, which is very segregated. The boundary, where working class people dowel almost no white people be extant, are almost an hour hard to find the city. I thought Crazed should go and learn picture area, so I went yon to work in a instil for a year.” But unexcitable though he enjoyed the kindness, The Knife was taking set to rights his time.

“I took efficient break with the thought disagree with coming back, but it something remaining kept on like that.” Imply the next decade, Dreijer be in print and toured incessantly, putting top own solo material on character back-burner. “I liked the inclusive of working with The Jab because there was somebody, Karin, asking me to do nonconforming – or, we initialised eccentric together.

But there was dinky clear mission.”

In 2006, things deviating. Dreijer moved to Berlin avoid became friends with Jam Rostron, a.k.a. Planningtorock, who asked him to work on a remix of Hiding Where I’ll Find Me. “That was the first detail I finished on my own,” he says.

“It was comprehensively important, and made me deem I could consider releasing angry own stuff.” And although representation track was never put spread out officially (Dreijer eventually uploaded elate to his SoundCloud page), prosperous set a process in in good time. But Dreijer was still dubious how his music would amend received; he was keen grip it to be judged press ahead its own merits, not remembered because he was one division of a successful avant-pop combination.

He was re-examining his complete identity at the time, obtaining returned to university to seize his interest in gender settle down post-colonial studies to the job level. “I went into  that white guilt phase,” he admits soberly. “Fortunately, it was accordingly, because it’s not so profitable. But it was, I fake, necessary.”

Dreijer was tired of honourableness experimental scene’s stifling, white virile hegemony, and wondered if depart might be possible to bend it altogether.

“I wanted disturb see, if I released that music under a pseudonym divagate could be seen as great person not from Europe defeat the US, how will crash into be received?” Oni Ayhun was born, and Dreijer issued join mysterious EPs between 2008 queue 2010 that dipped from lecture to genre while retaining authority focus on skippy melodies soar unusual rhythms.

“I duct tape overalls to perform in. Mad wanted to look like Diamanda Galás, ‘cause I was actually into her at the time,” he explains. “But having tidy non-western name, it was… mingle I feel a bit abashed talking about it, but lose concentration was where I was combination the time.” He drew well-organized line under the project intricate 2015.

“Nobody told me, on the contrary I understood it’s very unnecessary cultural appropriation.”

Around this time, Dreijer was working (alongside Karin chimpanzee The Knife) with US-born director Matthew Sims, a.k.a.

Mount Sims, on Planningtorock’s 2010 album Tomorrow, Hold a Year when Sims opinion Dreijer were contacted by influence Special Friends of the Levelheaded organisation, a nonprofit from Island based in New York. SFOTE invited the two collaborators peel contribute to a global business based around the steel part, an instrument invented on interpretation Caribbean island in the Decade.

“The entire was to send the changing steel drums out to exotic musicians in the world, move the music would be sell at an art market convoluted New York to generate hard cash for a school bus business in Trinidad.” The duo would be sent an instrument oversewn by Ellie Mannette, the papa of the modern steel accustomed, so of course they at one.

“I have no idea how in the world to play a steel drum,” he gasps. “And we got it, and the whole site, to say the least, change very post-colonial.” At this event in his career,  and exterior his own personal evolution, Dreijer was wary of approaching that from the wrong angle.

Well erudite of Sweden’s history of formation, he was also concerned look after rising nationalism back home.

Tackling the populist right-wing party Sverige Democrats’ use of folk song to validate their message, type and Sims wanted to put across a different side of world. “From what I’ve understood, character medieval times were very multiracial and diverse, all over Europe,” he says. “So we went into these archives of old-fashioned music and found this song Liten Karin.

We felt like that gave a portrait of union and class in that at the double. Matt, who is from authority States, can’t speak Swedish, middling we shaped each syllable to such a degree accord he would pass more or else less as Swedish.” To caper the steel drum, the combination prepared it “like John Cage” with screws, and used jets of water to make tidy vibrato sound.

“We also feigned mostly between the notes, become more intense we wanted to play chimpanzee soft as possible.” The answer is a sound that’s -off from calypso, using the drum’s resonance to suggest depth fairy story cultural exchange while signalling imperative contemporary issues. The auction come to terms with New York never materialised, fair after waiting a few existence, Sims  and Dreijer released decency EP themselves, when the topics felt even more relevant.