FridaΨ is a Berlin-based artist using synths, bass guitar, harp, vocals and field recordings for creating slow, sombre songs. Her musical influences range from darkwave and UK bass to post punk and experimental electronic music, but her main inspiration is both natural and urban environments as well as her own dark inner universe. In 2020, she released an EP ‘The Night’ where she captured moments of cold solitude and poetic observations through her melancholic viewfinder. Her latest release is ‘Dreamared’, an EP she recorded together with Bridget Feral as MOSST. FridaΨ has a monthly radio show called Forest District on the London-based THREADS radio and co-organizes Meetup Berlin, a monthly event for femme & LGBTQ* electronic music artists and DJs. During the artistic development program Amplify Berlin, FridaΨ was mentored by electro-acoustic composer and performer Hainbach.
FACTS
1. My artist name is inspired by Radiohead and the feeling of looking forward to something.
2. The first synth I’ve ever played was KORG Polysix.
3. I mistaken beautiful for sad and vica versa.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
There are two main sources of inspiration: My environment, both urban and natural, and my inner experience: strong moments of everyday life, nightlife, my inner demons…
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I learned how to play several instruments as a child and a teenager, but the instruments I ended up playing I have no formal training for. I went to jungle parties and had a screamo band as an adolescent, then fooled around with DAWs, then took part in experimental projects, wrote about music and organized music events. All this time I kept writing songs which I wouldn’t play for other people until recently.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Can’t pick just top 5, here are random 5 albums from my Top 50:
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Kraftwerk – Computer Love
Burial – Untrue
Björk – Debut
Yung Lean – Starz
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Tower cranes. They’re one of the reasons why I moved to Berlin in the first place.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Boxi – it’s become my balcony, basically. And Tempelhof. And all dark, smokey bars with a jukebox.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Noise.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Music for my radio show Forest District on THREADS radio: Team Rockit, Sorne, Onirologia, Isabassi, OvO…
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Dean Blunt and Damon Albarn come to mind. And The Sleaford Mods – I would be stepping in when Andrew is sick and take over his job of pressing play and drinking beer on stage.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Sigur Rós at Pohoda festival in 2016. Alcest at Heimathafen in 2020. Aphex Twin 2018 at Funkhaus. Alex Bau at Tresor.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Very much. The sole invention of a music recording technology, and amplification, and portable music players – this must be my first life cos I can’t imagine existing in the world without my headphones on.
And I love electricity and what it can do for music – synthesizers, effects, signals, software… On a different note, communications technology turned out to be essential for music communities, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. And being in touch with my fellow music nerd friends is quite important for my creative processes, and my overall well-being, to be frank.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I have a funk soul brother and we’re vibing.
Photo © Philipp Hamm
