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Olof Dreijer on the Knife, Swedish nationalism and dancefloor activism: ‘Music gives us energy to overcome’
After disbanding cult pop act the Knife, Dreijer helped migrant musicians and resisted the Swedish far-right. His wondrous new club tracks now reconsider how art can inform politics
Having already released a slew of eerie, techno-influenced solo singles under the moniker Oni Ayhun from 2008 to 2010, Dreijer went on to teach music to undocumented migrants in Berlin and Stockholm, as well as produce for friends including Tunisian multi-instrumentalist Houeida Hedfi. Raised in a politically engaged, leftwing family, Dreijer got his start in music as a teenager playing saxophone with his father in the local Gothenburg communist band. The group released four albums, culminating in 2013’s Shaking the Habitual, which addressed everything from gender privilege to extreme wealth and the environmental impacts of fracking, the apex of his politicised output.
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