Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall: Knackered’s New EP Is Looking Back At You

Tucked behind the bar in Bíó Paradís, the words “FYI I’M KNACKERED” are scrawled in squiggly sky blue text across an otherwise nondescript mirror. On closer inspection, you might recognise the text as designed by beloved local illustrator Natka. A QR code beneath the mirror links to an adorably mysterious page with a play button. Go ahead, press it. Open the portal.

New methods, new madness

“I’m squeezing the lemon so hard,” Ida Schuften Juhl admits. “Since Knackered is a completely new project and I haven’t shared a lot on social media, I took it as an opportunity to create a universe around this project.”

She’s referring to the “portals” that are popping up around town. Each one features original art by Máni Sigurðsson and opens into the upcoming single from her forthcoming EP, titled FYI, providing a sneak peek the week before the single drops. “It’s something that musicians most often find very daunting, but I find it really exciting to find alternative methods to communicate with people around you.”

Although Knackered is a new project, Ida has been active in Reykjavík’s music scene for over a decade. Building on her experience as an experimental electronic singer-songwriter-producer under the name IDK IDA and a brief stint in a techno trio called Sodill, Knackered takes elements of both projects in new directions. “IDK IDA was such an open, fragile, sensitive project and that’s a hard space to be in,” she admits. “It’s also a lot to ask of an audience to crawl deep into themselves and feel all of these emotions. It’s so extremely beautiful when people can do this, but I could not continue to do it.”

That’s where Knackered began. Fans of her previous work will definitely recognise the qualities of IDK IDA’s industrial soundscapes. “I needed more playful options, I think,” she says. “For my own production – and an element of danceability and playfulness because it’s a different way of connecting with people. And I really like connecting with people.”

FYI vs CD vs AI

“So how do I reach my people?” Ida asked herself. The portals are just one way of reaching out. “I’m plotting to release on NFC Mini CDs,” she explains.

Especially popular in the South Korean music industry, and to some extent in Japan, this piece of music technology is embedded in an adorably tiny collectable CD (usually attached to a keychain) that allows the user to download the music directly onto their phone. “It brings my tech interests and music expression together in a way: infrastructures and musical output.”
“I think the reason people are truly reacting now to Spotify is that it’s become so blatantly evident how powerful these tech giants are.”

Ida’s technological curiosity doesn’t hinge exclusively on finding novel ways to get Knackered out there. She also looks very carefully at the music industry as a hierarchy. “I have like a hyper focus interest on digital structures,” she elaborates. “And I’m so preoccupied with the infrastructure that we use online but have very little control over. I guess what I’m concerned with is creating an infrastructure that’s decentralised and gives the power back to people.”

She has made a deliberate decision not to release her new music on Spotify or Amazon Music. “I think the reason people are truly reacting now to Spotify is that it’s become so blatantly evident how powerful these tech giants are. There are no guardrails, and there’s no one demanding anything of the AI models that has anything to do with…” – she pauses here to consider her words – “…let’s just say ethics. It’s very dystopian. I think it’s like techno-feudalism, that you never get to own anything anymore.”

“What does it mean to own something?” is another big part of her thought process, she adds, noting another appeal of the Mini CDs. “Well, it’s sort of a constant, and nothing is constant on streaming. Things can disappear. It’s not that I believe greatly in this idea of ownership, as such,” she adds seriously. “But it’s more a matter of you having some kind of agency in terms of where your money goes and what you are paying to or for.”

Photo by Art Bicnick

Real DJs do it together

It all really boils down to making connections. Music, like most other arts, is dependent on many different kinds of connections. “Something I really wanted to mention is that the amount of my friends who have been pulling through is just striking,” Ida says enthusiastically. “It’s incredible how many people have just been making it possible really, either being extra ears [Sveinbjörn Thorarensen, aka Hermigervill] or helping me mix it or master it [Þorsteinn Eyfjörð and Fríðfinnur Oculus Sigurðsson] or doing my photoshoot [Pola Maria] – and my friends are just so talented,” she beams. “So the actual product is of such high quality.”

Her communal spirit extends into her production process, but also reaches generously out into the industry and society as a whole. “Things are not a transaction. It’s not like I get back everything I put in directly… DIT is what we call it,” she explains. “You know, like not DIY. Do it together.”

This kind of empowerment is one of the themes that appears in the EP – not hidden in between the beats, but propelled by them. “There is a lot of empowerment in it, like this underlying facilitation. Of course, I can only do that for myself, but facilitation of space for oneself. Not in an individualistic manner, it’s like it’s a shared thing…” She trails off before asking herself out loud, “What am I trying to say with this EP?”

Ida thinks a moment longer before she finds the right words: “You go, girl!”

Keep your eyes on the QR portals in Bíó Paradís and Smekkleysa as the next single, “luv uUu” dropped on September 25. Her full EP comes out on November 6, when Knackered also takes the stage at Iceland Airwaves. “Rubber thr0n” and “luv uUu” are available to listen on Bandcamp.