FEATURE:
Spotlight
Red Ivory
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THERE are some really…
PHOTO CREDIT: Addy Nzerem
promising bands coming through at the moment who we will see grow this year. Among them are the incredible Red Ivory. The London four-piece consist of Eiliyah Redha (vocals/guitar), Frida Olaberria (guitar), Berenice ‘Berry’ L'étrange (bass), and Ivy Adams (drums). Please Leave, I Want to Wake Up Now, is their latest E.P., that was released in November (their 2023 debut E.P., Façade, is not available on streaming sites). I will end with a review of that incredible E.P. There are not too many interviews with the band. However, there are a couple from late last year worth bringing in. I am starting out with Still Listening and their chat with the brilliant quartet. These amazing women need to be on your radar:
“For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We are Berry, Frida, Eiliyah and Ivy from south east London, and as Red Ivory we write and perform music inspired by grunge, post punk and alternative rock. We started playing together in 2021 when we were 14.
What inspired the title Please Leave, I Need To Wake Up Now and how does it reflect the themes within your EP?
The title came about in conversation while we were discussing how the EP was made — over such a long time and during so many environmental and interpersonal changes. It reflects the ideas of change, dependence and identity within the project.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a band since forming, and how has it influenced your music?
One of the biggest challenges we faced as a band was definitely our age up until this year or the end of last year. We weren’t able to play in a lot of venues, or had to do so sneakily, which especially at the start meant that we really had to focus on our songwriting over our live set if we wanted to be taken seriously rather than passed off because of how young we were. This was also the reason we initially recorded and released an EP in 2023 in a pretty rushed way, because we felt like we needed to prove ourselves in order to bypass the age thing.
What role does visual art play in your music, whether it’s in music videos, artwork, or your social media presence?
We have definitely started being more specific with our visual output lately, whereas before none of us considered it too much to be honest. Berry has always done all of our artwork though, so it has definitely always been really directly reflective of where we were as a band. Social media presence is obviously insanely important for new bands, and luckily in going about that we have managed to be really creative and have loads of fun, like during a photo shoot with Addy Nzerem (who did our EP promo photos) in Peckham or in creating the single artworks amongst ourselves and with our friends Ethan Holt and Rosalie Salkeld. We have done a couple of music videos with friends, and are definitely wanting to do more of that kind of thing in the campaign for our new EP.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
“I’m still listening to Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins because it made me feel really cool when I was 14. And Plastic Beach by Gorillaz because it was one of the only CDs we had in my car when I was growing up.” – Ivy
“Lush’s Lovelife album because it was the first album that made me love rock music when I was like 14.” – Eiliyah
“I still listen to Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars because it was an album that all my older siblings used to sing to me most nights. – Berry
When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?
We hope that the drive within our music sticks with people, because we feel like that’s a constant presence in our tracks and one that we aim to maintain. We also hope that the ease and smoothness of the writing process comes through the tracks and sticks to them”.
Prior to getting to a review of the sensational Please Leave, I Need to Wake Up Now, CLASH included Red Ivory in their Next Wave series. They are definitely a band to watch. I would love to see them live, as they seem like such an eclectic and powerful stage act. They have had a couple of January London dates. Paper Dress Vintage on 16th; George Tavern on 20th. Tomorrow (2nd February) they play Shackwell Arms. Although they are playing small spaces at the moment, it is not going to be long until they are playing major venues:
“Red Ivory is done with being hidden.
For the South London four-piece, music began initially as a curious outlet. “I guess because my family’s really religious, they think music’s a sin,” vocalist Eiliyah deadpans. “But then when I started doing it, they were like, ‘Okay, whatever.’” Stealing CDs from her dad’s collection, she taught herself how to sing and play the guitar. Ivy first picked up a guitar during lockdown, as more of a side hobby. Berry “did not know what the bass actually was”, as she claims, but came into possession of a five-string instrument somewhat accidentally. Ivy, whose only instrument was the piano, learned to play the drums after joining Red Ivory.
The self-taught musicians trace their proper musical roots back to their school days—which aren’t too far behind them. Eiliyah, Berry and Frida went to secondary school together, and linked up with Ivy, a friend of Berry’s from childhood, at school when they were 13. “We were known as a collective,” Ivy says, with their schoolmates often teasing them for being attached at the hip. In year 10, while studying their GCSEs in music, their writing teacher suggested they write as a band. From that day forward, their mutual ambitions became bound together. Now a band of 18-year-olds, they’re just scratching the surface.
“We knew what we wanted from the start; it wasn’t by accident,” Ivy says. “[We were] very intentional in wanting to achieve what we’re doing and what we still want to achieve now.” Officially starting Red Ivory at 14 years old, their age was never a personal deterrent; if anything, it drove them forward. At the motivation of Frida’s mum, who worked in events, Red Ivory became a staple in their local South London scene. For the young musicians, its community of venues was like entering a foreign post-punk and alternative world. “When we would tell people that we were from South London, they’d respect us a little bit more,” Eiliyah explains, though this did not eradicate their issue of being underage. The band would have to evade speculative eyes and, when asked their age by interviewers, would vaguely reply, “We’re in uni.”
“We were kind of an enigma for a while because it was like, ‘They can’t know how old we are, they can’t know who we are,” Ivy says. “We’d literally have to leave a venue as soon as we played.” Enduring getting kicked out of venues for being underage more than once, as Berry recalls, “We’ve always kind of been hidden… we couldn’t exactly show ourselves. Now, it’s like, ‘See us!’”
Red Ivory became nearly trapped in their own creation, their talents threatening to burst their cage open. When they weren’t spending their days under the confines of academia, they spent time writing together, bleeding themselves dry of every frustration that was brewing within. The resulting EP, ‘Please Leave, I Need To Wake Up Now’, recorded in the midst of preparing for their A Levels, immerses the listener into the teenagers’ mental state. Each song feels “like sections of a nightmare”, as Eiliyah describes. “Us being at school was just an absolute nightmare. Obviously, we had each other, but everything else around us was like…” She trails off with a shake of her head. In contrast, Berry explains, the EP’s title “feels like it came to us in a dream. All the songs were about claustrophobia and that kind of vibe”.
Across the EP, Red Ivory evolves into increasingly self-assured territory, gaining power in every note. ‘My Mind’ channels both anger and apathy, while ‘Interlude’ operates as a space for each musician to jam in their own worlds. For Eiliyah, an introspective love song like ‘Hate The Way’ allowed her to explore her vocal talents that were concealed by an innate shyness. “I would never find out what I could do more,” she explains, “and ‘Hate The Way’ was the first one where, in the end, I start belting. So, I think that song reflects vulnerability, but also growing out of it a lot more.” Any given Red Ivory song is rooted in a slight dissonance, like leaning into imperfection in favour of a radical honesty. Notes of grunge seep into them, and fittingly so. A mutual love of Sonic Youth guided Red Ivory in their early days, while nods to the Breeders, the Pixies and Fugazi exist in their chords. “It was just such a cool time, like Kim Deal and all of her different experimentations and bands,” Berry says. “That’s kind of what we want, you know? To be ever-changing.” Now, with bands like Mannequin Pussy, Wolf Alice and Pretty Sick to look towards, Red Ivory are emerging with a reimagined DIY energy that sparks a much-needed enthusiasm”.
I will wrap things up with a glowing review of the Please Leave, I Need to Wake Up Now E.P. Silent Radio had this to say about a work from a group that I can see enjoying a very long and successful career. It is clear, right from the off, they have this incredible and distinct sound. One that is winning them a lot of fans. If you are unfamiliar then make sure you connect with them:
“Twiddling your thumbs after finishing your A levels? Not if you’re Red Ivory. The South-London teenage four-piece released a new EP, Please Leave, I Need to Wake up Now instead. It’s gritty indie rock that hits you in the face – and the gut – offering confrontation rather than escape.
The first notes of opener “12 October” make it clear that the young women – Eiliyah Redha, Frida Olaberria, Berry Stuttard, Ivy Forbes Adam – are not interested in sleek production or sing-along choruses. Instead, they channel anxiety and rebellion, and the track would not be out of place on Nirvana’s Bleach. It’s scruffy and abrasive, filled with the kind of restless energy teenagers tend to be bursting with. “Can’t you see it’s no good for me / I don’t wanna feel but you make me”, Redha sings, sounding moody and petulant. A bit like a teenager, you might say, if it wasn’t for the fact that her voice has the primal rawness of PJ Harvey at the peak of her powers.
On “Crashing Down,” the band even manages to up the ante and plunge into the claustrophobic anxiety you may experience under the influence, which the song addresses. The distorted guitars create a dark, nervous atmosphere, and the song is the kind of masterclass in push-and-pull dynamics that Sonic Youth perfected over their career. When the manic collapse finally arrives and everything comes, well, crashing down, you feel like you could use a bit of a rest to regroup.
Thankfully, Red Ivory show some kindness in the form of “Hate the Way”, more jangly indie pop than in-your-face rock for the most part, not unlike Hole’s softer, melancholic offerings. Wistful and bittersweet, it’s proof that creating chaos isn’t Red Ivory’s only forte, and though the lyrics are anything but happy-go-lucky – “I hate the way I feel about you / But I can’t change anything” – the track shows the emotional nuance that stops the music from feeling one-dimensional.
At 1:12 minutes, “Interlude” may be the EP’s shortest song but it’s also the most ominous-sounding, keeping you guessing as to whether it’s going to turn into a full-on heavy metal assault. It doesn’t, segueing into closer “My Mind” instead, a song that somehow manages to bring to mind all those female or female-fronted acts that made ‘90s guitar music such a thrill. L7? Check! Veruca Salt? Check! Sleater-Kinney? Check!
Red Ivory pick up the mantle some 30 years later, and like all those artists as well as the ones mentioned earlier, they aren’t offering comfort but truth. It’s fierce, ragged, at times uncomfortable, the way truth tends to be. Here’s hoping that adulthood will not blunt their edge”.
There is no doubt that Red Ivory are worth all the buzz they are getting. I feel they should get some space on sites like Rolling Stone UK, NME and beyond. Some of the biggest and most influential websites and publications showing love for this band. Eiliyah Redha, Frida Olaberria, Berenice ‘Berry’ L'étrange and Ivy Adams are going to make some big strides. Although this year is young, you just know that they are going to accomplished…
SO much very soon.
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