Olof Dreijer

On his own or as one-half of the Knife, DJ, producer, and musician Olof Dreijer brings an inventive, often playful edge to electronic music. With the Knife, he and his sibling Karin Dreijer combined electronics that alluded to '80s pop and experimental techno, lyrics that explored queer perspectives, and a mordant sense of humor in subversively catchy songs on albums such as 2006's Silent Shout. His 2010s releases as Oni Ayhun continued the exploratory nature of his music, while his productions, remixes, and DJ sets reflected his knowledge of electronic, pop, and global music as well as his artistic curiosity -- strengths that were also apparent on the steel drum explorations of 2023's Souvenir and the flowing, pitch-bent melodies of that year's Rosa Rugosa EP. While he was still in school in the late '90s, Olof Dreijer began his musical career as a DJ. Initially concentrating on disco, house, garage, and drum'n'bass, he soon expanded his repertoire to hip-hop, techno, and trance. His programming and production skills first came to prominence with the Knife, the project he formed with his sibling Karin Dreijer in mid-1999. Karin's experimental pop instincts and Olof's passion for dance music and jazz combined in fresh ways, with albums like 2001's self-titled debut and 2003's Deep Cuts winning critical praise and growing chart success in their homeland of Sweden. With 2006's Silent Shout, the Knife became a group praised internationally for its innovative music and imagery. Alongside his work with the Knife, Olof spun minimal techno as DJ Coolof in the mid-2000s, playing shows where no more than half of the artists identified as men. Following the Silent Shout tour, the Dreijers took some time to work on individual projects. Karin launched Fever Ray, while Olof released music under his own name, including "Al Jazeera," a track that appeared on Music for Alien Civilisations, a 2008 collection of forward-thinking music made in collaboration with the Swedish Space Corporation and Space Port Esrange. He also released more experimental music as Oni Ayhun, a project that paired gender-fluid concepts with sounds rooted in ambient techno. Released on his own Oni Ayhun imprint, the singles OAR001 and OAR002 appeared in mid-2008, with OAR003 arriving in early 2009; that year, Dreijer also remixed Nine Inch Nails' "Me, I'm Not" under his own name. In 2010, two more Oni Ayhun singles were released, and the project marked its live debut with performances embellished with vivid sets and drag-inspired costumes. During this time, the Knife reunited to work with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock on Tomorrow, In a Year, an opera commemorating the 100th anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species. Originally performed at Copenhagen's Danish Royal Opera House, it was released as a studio recording in March 2010. Olof still worked on his own music and other collaborations, remixing Emmanuel Jal's "Kuar" and performing as Oni Ayhun at a London show with Oneohtrix Point Never in late 2010. More live dates followed, along with "Oni Ayhun Meets Shangaan Electro," a 2011 team-up with Detroit techno producer Anthony "Shake" Shakir on Honest Jon's Records. In 2013, the Knife returned with their final album, Shaking the Habitual, an unsettling 90-minute meditation on topics including gender theory, economic inequality, and the environment that spawned the 2014 EP Shaken-Up Versions. After the Knife disbanded in late 2014, Oni Ayhun participated in Decon Recon, a project with rRoxymore, Aquarian Jugs, and Jaguar Woman that focused on the communal sharing of sounds and ideas. Along with releasing a 12" on Noise Manifesto, Decon Recon also performed several dates in 2015. Dreijer's work as a DJ took precedence in the late 2010s, and the Knife's streaming 20th anniversary celebration featured a set from him. He produced Swedish/Kurdish pop artist Zhala's single "Holes" and remixed Mehdi Bahmad's "Rouge À lèvres" in 2020; the following year, he produced Tunisian composer and multi-instrumentalist Houeida Hedfi's album Fleuves de l'Ame, which was released by Errol Alkan's Phantasy label. Also in 2021, Ben UFO's installment of the Melodies Record Club series marked the vinyl debut of "Echoes from Mamori," a house-inspired soundtrack to the 2009 exhibition There Is No Audience. Dreijer was also part of the creative team that worked on Fever Ray's 2023 album Radical Romantics. That year saw the release of Souvenir, a set of experimental pieces based on the sounds of the steel drum featuring an instrument made by Trinidadian steel drum expert Ellie Mannette. Dreijer returned to more danceable music with that October's Rosa Rugosa, an EP of lively, melodic tracks released by the U.K. label Hessle Audio. Early in 2024, he performed several DJ sets in the U.S.
© Heather Phares /TiVo