Hi! For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound, and who have been your biggest influences so far?
I would say that my sound is international, multi-genre, and funky. My biggest influences have been James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, Prince,
Meshell Ndegeocello, Rage Against The Machine, Eminem, Snoop Dog, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Bob Marley, Sting, Ella Fitzgerald, etc…
Do you remember what the first song was, that made you want to start a career in music?
Yes, I’ll never forget the day a Faroese rock singer, now opera singer came over and gave me a burnt cd of Rage Against The Machine’s – Killing in the Name Of, that song and Eminem’s rap on Lose Yourself were direct influences for MonkeyRat’s 1st big hit – Fuck The Jante Law.
You released ‘The Child’ a couple of months ago. Can you tell us how that track came about?
My husband was looking through my binder of poems when he found, The Child, inspired he started composing electronic music on Ableton Live. It was a poem I wrote as a teenager when my dream of becoming a dancer was denied, I felt like the child within me died with my dream. In 2020, my Mom then passed away on Mother’s Day and Queen Victoria’s Day, unable to travel to Canada for her funeral, I was asked what words to be spoken on my behalf. I thought of my poem, The Child; my mother’s mind became like that of a child because of her dementia. She was finally free to be herself, clapping and singing for all to hear and cheer. When I heard the music, I loved it and thought of Anna Sofía Skoradal. I remember how I fell in love with her voice when I first heard her sing at the weekly Open Mic event that Arnold Ludvig and I hosted and organized for 5 years. I remembered that she was an Aquarius like me and a Dragon like my mother, we all share the same name, Anna, I saw it as a sign and was delighted when she agreed to sing it. When it came to the additional mixing and mastering of MonkeyRat’s 1st electronic dream pop/bedroom pop/neo-soul song,
I thought of Kurt Uenala, my Ableton Live teacher and producer of Depeche Mode.
And how would you say it compares to your previous releases?
It’s different from anything else we ever released before and with MonkeyRat’ great musicians, they had no problem arranging it for our live performances.
And what was it like to work with Anna Sofía Skoradal on this?
Great! Anna Sofía was a real pleasure to work with, she understood the emotions of the song and sang it beautifully. The 6th and final take was the one that brought tears to my eyes and what u hear on the final master.
What is the biggest challenge of being an artist?
I would say getting MonkeyRat’s music out there in the world because the Faroe Islands is so small and far away, 62 degrees north of nowhere, between Iceland and Norway, north of Scotland surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a musician?
Never give up, keep on pushing, and keep on grinding.
What’s next for you? Is there more music or any live shows on the way?
More writing, a video is scheduled to be made by the end of this year and on January 26th, 2023, MonkeyRat will perform @ VetrarJazz Festival in the Faroe Islands with special guest singer, Anna Sofía Skoradal performing The Child live with my great musicians from Copenhagen, Denmark. I also look forward to creating and releasing new music in 2023.
