Iona Zajac: "The song is taken from a series of absurd dreams in which I ended up visiting Billy Connolly's house"

An absolute pleasure it is to chat with Iona Zajac, a few hours before she performs at the storied Castle Hotel, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, in what is a whirlwind year for the Scottish-born singer-songwriter, poet and multi-instrumentalist.

A main support for Alison Moyet’s sold-out 25-date theatre UK tour; touring with The Pogues as vocalist and harpist across the UK, US and Canada; and now the release of Bang, her utterly brilliant debut album. Iona opens our conversation chatting about the influence of the genius Lucia Berlin on the record, which is simply mighty.

“One of my managers,” Iona explains, “runs a studio in Edinburgh, and I brought up a producer, Dani Bennett-Spragg from London. We’re kind of the same person, we’re a day apart in age, and she just got the record so clearly. We made it with Joe Taylor, Ellie Mason and Ben Manning – that’s coming up to two years ago.

“It took a long time figuring out who was going to mix it and getting different test mixes. There’s definitely been a sense of frustration because it’s taken so long, but now I’m ready to release it and start playing these songs live. I played ‘Anton’ for the first time on Sunday night in Bristol.”

The sound and fury contained within ‘Anton’ – a raw and unflinching reflection on formative experiences with toxic men – is colossal. ‘Bowls’, meanwhile, superbly cracks open Bang with martial drums and Iona’s raw vocal.

“It’s a very direct opener,” Iona affirms. “It says, ‘This woman’s going to be challenging’. I never wanted the record to sound too clean, I like that there’s a hollowness. We recorded a lot of it live. I think ‘Bowls’, ‘Dilute’ and ‘Anton’ are like sisters, in that they’re all dealing with a similar subject at different stages.

“‘Anton’ is about a direct experience, ‘Dilute’ is a general experience and ‘Bowls’ pitches to the wider world – ‘Why is it that women have to put up with violence, why? Why do we have to have more of that than anyone else?’”

The brave honesty revealed on ‘Anton’ is anchored by the liberating fury of ‘Dilute’, of which Iona declares, “Why can’t we run around with red faces, screaming at men who’ve wronged us? I see no issue. I see myself as a feral, strong woman in this song, and I want it to be a song for women to find their anger and turn it into power. I’m quite happy to be full of rage and a little weird and make people feel a bit uncomfortable.

“That’s the kind of music that gets me. Voices like Lisa O’Neill, or Radie Peat, or PJ Harvey. Voices that are calling to battle. Voices like The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir or Warsaw Village Band. I’m really inspired by them – so, at the end of ‘Loving Is Rough’, there’s a group of female voices with a drone behind it. I love that kind of music.”

Iona possesses a masterful ability to balance light and dark with startling ease. Exhibit A being ‘Chicken Supermarket’.

“Basically,” Iona laughs, “the song is taken from a series of absurd dreams in which I ended up visiting Billy Connolly’s house, in the middle of a pier. I really was loving Billy Connolly in this dream, and his wife was there, and I was incredibly jealous. And then I went outside and threw her phone in the sea, but the sea was jelly!

“I think it’s important that people pick up on the humour, because the heavy stuff is quite heavy, but I’m not that serious a person. You get that from my live show, where I really try and achieve that balance.”
The almost mythic figure of German folk singer and actress Sibylle Baier is another totemic influence on the album.

“Her song ‘Tonight’,” Iona explains, “is simply her nylon string guitar and her voice with subtle chord changes. There’s nothing too complicated about it. Looking back on my first EP, one of the things I like is its simplicity, because I was so limited in my knowledge. I probably only used three or four chords, and I could only pick very simply. I think Sibylle Baier is an example of less being more.”

• Bang is out now.