IOANA IORGU: finding comfort in dissonance
Ioana Iorgu has been on my radar since her single “Suffocate” back in 2020. With her unpolished voice and electrifying instrumentals that set fire to my insides, I’ve been held captive and intrigued to see where she will go next. Her single “Ritalin” from 2021, a foreshadower to her EP Thick Skin, has heated the cauldron of emotions to the boiling temperature that seemed to be the opposite of the desired effect. Eventually, as the drugs assumingly have failed, Ioana appeared with her latest single “I’m Happy” that has been noticed by Camiel Music and Never Mind the Hype in the Netherlands as well as daMusic in Belgium. However, while listening to the song on my way to meet Ioana, I get suspicious whether the title is not a hoax. A sense of dissonance emerges through her calm recitation "It’s alright, I don’t mind, / It’s alright, I’m fine” as the last word falls into the abyss of dizzying echo. Being unable to hold back the curiosity I ask if she’s actually happy, to which she responds with laughter as she shakes her head. “It’s my response to the triviality of this question and the preferred answer. At one point I was constantly being asked whether I was happy to which I naturally said yes. But eventually I kind of snapped and dived into my pool of thoughts in search for the real answer. That’s when I realized that masking the truth is not the solution and it’s important to talk about your feelings instead of giving auto-generated answers.”
As we settle down on the couch in a room that seems to me like a dream of any aspiring musician – a home studio with enough gear to make your ideas come to life – I soak up the details that we’re surrounded with. Pleasant late October sun illuminates various sources that spark Ioana’s imagination such as books, posters, and vinyls. One of the walls is an honorable display of album covers that pays respect to the well-known icons (like Patti Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees), Ioana’s personal idols (such as Savages) and even some overlooked Dutch names (like Tjalling from Eindhoven and Groningen’s own CYNN). However, the main actor that revealed to Ioana the world of shoegaze, post-punk and ambient, was her English teacher from her teenage years back in Malaysia. “We used to also play in the same band. He introduced me to strong female figures like PJ Harvey, Savages, the Kills, all of whom I still admire up to this day. I am also keeping up-to-date with the instrumental ambient music that my English teacher is still making under the name of White Whispers.” Her teacher’s inspiration is audible in Ioana’s first two albums - Silent Scream, composed in 2015 yet released in 2019, and Fiction in 2019 – fully instrumental ventures to the world of ambient where guitar plays a leading role. Using her instrument provided Ioana also with comfort that she could not feel when using her voice. However, in 2020, with the single “Suffocate”, Ioana took a courageous step in embracing the discomfort and finding her unique voice.
The summer of 2021 marks the release of Ioana’s first vocal EP, Thick Skin, which she described as a journey on finding her own sound as well as herself. “It was a musical exploration through personal reflections on negative experiences such as bad dates and toxic relationships. It’s been a road to self-discovery that eventually just had to be done instead of listening to people telling me who I am when they don’t know that! Eventually it felt as if I was watching the world spinning around while I was stuck inside my own head. Through various past explorations I could reflect on the effects that such experiences had on me. At the same time I also didn’t want to make the EP too personal - I wanted to articulate these emotions in a relatable manner. That’s why I aimed to write the lyrics neutrally, like by avoiding pronouns, so that the songs could resonate with anyone who is listening.” Even though this seems like an invitation to find solace in Ioana’s music, she laughs when I ask her whether she thinks that her songs could provide comfort for listeners: “I doubt that. At least the topics that I’m writing about are not helpful in any way. There’s an underlying anger towards the society, which I’ve wrapped in a mocking and satirical cloak.”
Compared to Ioana’s instrumental endeavors, her vocal songs dare to enter the realm of discomfort and dissonance. Eager to learn what lyrics can hold, Ioana surrounds herself with poetry books that she points at lying in the warmth of the autumn sun. Amongst the likes of Oscar Wilde and Sylvia Plath, the author that gets the most recognition is Carol Ann Duffy, an award-winning Scottish poet, and her compilation Love Poems. The amount of underlined bits from numerous poems accurately expresses Ioana’s adoration towards the poet and her ability to portray the darker side of love in a neutral way thus resulting in an uncanny feeling of finding comfort in dissonance. “I admire the conflict that arises from the combination of clashing items. The mix between raw and powerful instrumentals together with the vocals that range from sad to angry to soft opens up the space for imagination that’s born out of the dissonance from matching the unmatchable.” Ioana’s exploration on how far she can push the limits also appears in her lyrics. “The upcoming album is not that personal as such, but rather an exploration on the creativity of writing and observations from society. It’s a challenge on the possibilities of one’s imagination, a dare for one to accept and face the darkest corners of the mind that sometimes hide rather repulsive fantasies. But that is what being a human is after all.”
At the time of our conversation, “I’m Happy” has been resting on the tenth place in the Free40 alternative charts by an online Dutch radio for indie and alternative music, IndieXL. Ioana’s name has been appearing frequently in 3voor12 Groningen updates on the local scene and has rocked the audiences in Simplon and Forum Groningen. All things considered, it seems like this should be the moment when Ioana could say that she is happy after all. “I’ve been receiving a lot of appreciation and met wonderful people on this adventure who have greatly contributed to my music. For example, some album covers are made by me and some have been done by Cris who is known for his collages under the name of Menumortu. The author of the upcoming album cover is Cashmyra who has also been contributing to the Groningen music scene with her awesome post punk energy. Recently I’ve also been joined by Joris whom I met on Tinder and now they are supporting me by taking over the drums. I am happy to be in this scene that is rapidly flourishing in female artists and that I keep discovering every day. If I managed to get here because of the effort and time that I put in learning drums, guitar and even mastering, then anyone can do it!”
