Meet IKSRE, the artistic persona of Phoebe Dubar, an incredibly versatile artist hailing from Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. As a vocalist, violinist, producer and sound alchemist, IKSRE fuses ethereal vocals, rich strings, bass-infused synths and healing instruments, complemented by field recordings. This results in a distinctive blend of ambient, neo-classical pop that has defined her sound across five albums, released both independently and with a number of labels including Constellation Tatsu (Oakland), Hush Hush Records (Seattle) and Lo Recordings (London). She’s also released music in collaboration with other artists such as Party Store, marine eyes, Shelf Nunny, and anthène.
Beyond her musical endeavors, Phoebe extends her passion for sound into the realm of healing. She hosts group sound baths featuring a medley of Himalayan and Alchemy crystal singing bowls, gongs, hand pan, drum, chimes, Monochord, and voice, incorporating overtone singing into the mix. In addition, she shares her expertise by conducting sound healing basics training workshops locally and internationally.
With a myriad of talents, IKSRE is a multifaceted artist leaving an indelible mark on the world of music and sound healing. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask Phoebe some questions about her creative process.
Before you go on to read our interview with IKSRE, make yourself comfortable with a coffee or a tea, sit in your favourite chair and listen to her new album abundance (find it on Spotify or Bandcamp). Please enjoy.
I was in the final stages of mixing my first album, 'Unfurl', when I realised I hadn't worked out a name for the project. My daughter was a baby at this stage and as any new parents will know, those days involve walking around with a baby in a pram. A LOT. It happened to be the start of autumn when the light in Naarm/Melbourne is really gorgeous, and as I pounded the pavement, I kept seeing prisms in road signs, windows, mirrors and thought to myself "I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere”. IKSRE. It felt right, because it also conveyed what the music is all about to me - this sense of optimism, wonder and awe, and the natural world at its core.
Yeah, I've played in orchestras, jazz bands, indie electronica acts and almost everything in between. I feel like I've picked up elements of a lot of these genres which have somehow wound up in my work now. When I first began playing around with the project that would become IKSRE, I wrote songs from a dance background, albeit with the beats removed. "Tall Roads" on my debut album "Unfurl" is an example of that. I kinda lost my way in that regard for the following few albums (the Pandemic informed most of that material, plus some heavy personal experiences), but I feel like I've come back to that with my new album, "abundance". There's several tunes which I wanted to make feel like they were almost a dance track, if only they had a 4/4 beat. My sound has evolved massively over the past five albums, as I've accumulated way more fun toys - both electronic (Moog Mother32 and Grandmother, and OP1-Field synths, and a handful of staple pedals - Avalanche Run, Microcosm and BigSky) and acoustic (gongs, Himalayan and Crystal singing bowls, chimes, Monochord, Shruti box). And I've learned way more production techniques. Every album I pick up a swag of new tricks, which then go on to inform what comes next. I'm always learning. Always evolving.
Absolutely. Jazz and 90s hip hop feature constantly on my turntable. And hip hop influenced jazz (hello, Robert Glasper) and jazz influenced hip hop (hello, Tribe) win bonus points. Radiohead always and forever. Actually, anything Thom Yorke is on. Trip hop too. That whole Bristol era - Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky... such a classic era of music. I also love classic disco - anything Nile Rodgers or Giorgio Moroder produced. Those epic strings and bass grooves. I guess when it comes down to it, I love anything with a focus on bass, and I think that totally comes across in my music. I've tried writing tunes with minimal bass, but I always end up adding a sneaky drone in somewhere. I can't help it. And I'm obsessed with the sound of my Moog Mother32. The bass is just so, so good. If my studio burnt down tomorrow, that's the first thing I'd replace. And my viola. I think playing viola in orchestras actually set me up in a lot of ways. Rather than being the showy, melody-makers in the string sections, the viola part is usually rhythmic, and in the lower end. It drives the rest of the string section along, and holds it all together. I think that very much comes across in my music now - it's more about textures than one predominant melody.
My all time favourite visual artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat. I remember seeing his work when I was a teenager and it felt like my brain had been completely rewired. The boldness of his work and how he was clearly making it from the depths of his being. It still blows me away. A little closer to home, Brett Whiteley is another favourite of mine. And last year I invested in an original by a Port Fairy based artist, Liam Murphy - his creations are mesmerising. I stare at the piece constantly.
Cinematically, I can't go past Wes Andersen. His movies are so incredibly immersive - you feel wholly swallowed up by these worlds he creates. I love all of them. I'm also an avid reader, and I always have at least two or three books on the go at once. At the moment, it's Tyson Yunkaporta's new one - 'Right Story, Wrong Story' - he's a genius, his work is essential to us moving forward as a nation. I've got Melissa Lucashenko's new one "Edenglassie" too, which I'm starting next. And I've just finished Trent Dalton's new book "Lola in the Mirror", which is utterly heartbreaking but so beautiful. I adore his work too.
I don't actually, but for as long as I can remember, I often find myself silently singing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in my head when I'm walking. I've done it since I was a kid - potentially at some stage when I was playing it in a youth orchestra, and it stuck. Like, really, stuck. I don't know whether there's any significance to it, but as far as life theme songs, it's a pretty good one. Thankfully I don't tend to get creatively blocked. I'm constantly inspired by the natural world around me, and keeping my ears open. I walk a lot and never wear earbuds, and often the repetitive rhythm of my footsteps, combined with the sounds of birds in the morning, stir up the creative juices. The other morning I was out for a SUP (stand up paddleboard) in the bay and was inspired by the calm waters and sunshine reflecting off the surface, and wound up humming a melody which I then went home and worked on. I feel like if you're open to it, creativity will just flow through you. But you have to be open to it. If not, it'll just pass you by. Now that I've said this, I swear I'll have a block now.
I'd always wanted to do my yoga teacher training, and embarked on that in early 2017. At the end of the 200hrs (one month, full time), I realised that I didn't want to teach asana (poses) but there must be a musical side to it. I discovered the Sound Healing Academy in Cornwall, and did their introductory course. I fell in love with it immediately. It felt like I'd found a way to combine my lifelong passion for music with my 15 year long yoga practice. I undertook their year-long practitioner course and was certified in early 2020. It's an incredibly powerful practice and I'm so grateful I found it. Most of my albums incorporate some of my sound healing instruments - bowls, chimes, etc. Sometimes, the elements are chosen very consciously - on 'heartburst' for example, the song was about my daughter, and I purposefully used the 528hz quartz bowl because it's known as the 'love frequency'. More often than not, it's just a matter of me banging on everything one by one til I find something that fits. However my album "Awake Within the Dream: Sound Meditations vol 1" was made purposefully as short sound meditations, rather than just songs. They're little mini sound baths, I guess.
That was such a lovely project to work on. Josh and I started writing demos in early 2021, and it continued for about 16 months. It was very organic, and before we knew it, we had an album. Often, Josh would send me a sketch of something he'd put together, and I'd add parts to it, and other times, we used B-sides which we'd had lying around. Modern technology is amazing for musicians - the fact you can make a whole album with someone on the other side of the world, during a global pandemic, is just wild.
I've learnt the hard way that if you go out trying to find a particular sound, you'll never find it. Or there will be road noise, planes, or a bunch of people making noise. I love hiking, and my husband is an avid birdwatcher. Our daughter (now six) loves being in the forest too, so we find ourselves in the wilderness a lot. Whenever we do, I take my field recording kit (a Zoom H4n Pro recorder, tripod and headphones) with me and keep my ears open. Sometimes it's a particular birdcall that catches my ear, other times, it's something as simple as the end of a rain shower, and the sound of droplets of water on the ground below - whatever it is, if I hear something, I quickly get my stuff out and hit record. Sometimes I start the song using the recording, No.2 in E (Billabong) being a classic example, where I based the rhythm and key of the song around the 'woop woop' of the lead bird), and other times, if I'm writing something and think "this needs birds" or "this needs water", I can go to my catalogued files and find what I'm after. I love when I get a good, long recording - I use them in sound baths as a background for the first half of the session. It's a wonderful way to bring the sounds of the natural world into the city. Our nervous systems are predisposed to react positively to these sounds, and so many city dwellers never hear them.
I'm loving touring abundance - playing those songs live is so, so much fun and the response to the album has been amazing. Once the dust settles on that, I'm going to start working on a Sound Meditations vol.2. I've got a really strong concept for this one, and have been researching and collecting field recordings for it for months. I'm super excited to get stuck into it but have been really restrained, making sure I have a clear deck before I start recording and producing. I'm also finishing a collaborative album with another artist, which is going to be really lovely - it's someone I haven't worked with before but am a massive fan of his music. And I've been chatting to some of the people I've collaborated with in the past couple of years, about doing some more stuff. But always sound baths, workshops and music making. That's my life and I'm eternally grateful that I get to do it.
