Lister

By Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen
Translated by Rebekka Kirk

When an artist has a lot on the plate, it is interesting to hear how time is divided between the different musical projects, which is something that others are often more absorbed in than the artist herself:

"The talk about how time the different projects take up is probably more important to others than it is to me’ Signe says and continues ‘if you look objectively back on Speaker Bite Me, it has taken 6 years to make the last record and that way, there has been plenty of time for Jomi to produce three records and go on tour. I am a composer through and through, and that is almost all I do. To me, it is just me making music and I do not think about which different ensembles I do that in. Of course, it is not Jomi Massage that is at the forefront of Speaker Bite Me but Jomi Massage is after all also me, so in a way she is there too. It is all about keeping the musical machine as exciting, curious and demanding as possible. Music is everything to me, be it in the form of one project or the other."

The raw and diametrical expression

"The reason why I invented Jomi Massage, was to explore what I can do if I as an artist stood on my own. In doing so, I found my way into this ballpark which I find to be über feminine and very satisfying to me to try to work with this both slightly hysterical and gentle female universe. So when Jomi plays, it is the woman who relates stories."

In this expressiveness, you can hear references to both the Riot Grrl scene from the early 90s and especially expressive artists like PJ Harvey and Patti Smith. The common denominator is that they all bare their souls and present femininity in a new manner:

"This way of expression is not an exclusively female trademark as the men have also done it very much. However, you can say that a niche has been created in regards to when the women do this. It is an unfiltered attitude which just appears more powerful when a woman gets up and screams, than when a man does the same, because men have been doing it longer than women."

Feminism

When the question turns to Jomi Massage’s direct relation to feminism, it is both a well-founded area but however primarily manifested for Signe:

"I started the Jomi Massage project  to find out, what I could do as a woman and I find the result to be very feminine. Hence, when I get up and play the music I do, I end up feeling responsible for it – and then it may be my womanliness I express. But when you can tell that this exact femininity is what a lot of other women and men want to talk about and get off on, I am immensely happy to talk about it. And that is probably where the womanliness comes into the picture. As soon as you are outspoken about something to do with gender, you are labelled as a feminist, which is fine by me. I think it is terrific that I do not just have to sit and talk about myself time and time again. I find the fact that you can feature political and feminist issues fantastic."