Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Iona Luke

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

My earliest memory connected to music is nursery school. I always liked the darker rhymes. My mum thinks it was a sign of my style that my favourite was ‘Butterfly, butterfly please take care in the air .. there are birds on the wing that will eat you tasty thing’, pretty freaky. 

How did your passion for creating music begin?

My passion began at around 12/13 when teenage “big feelings” started happening. It was a way of getting everything out and sorting through what I thought and felt about relationships. Music has participated a lot in how I process information, it’s my way of thinking.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

My upcoming EP is really a declaration of sound. Each track has a slightly different approach, though all in an indie/rock/songwriter zone, they come together to signal a lot of my influences, from Portishead to the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack. I wrote some of the songs years ago, but tried to choose the ones that felt most emotionally poignant to me. For example, ‘Can We Still Hang Out?’ (the first track that was released on the 29th May) was written two years ago, but it embodies an emotion that returns in cycles for most people, I think. 

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

It’s difficult to describe your own music, but it’s honest, cinematic and dark. I try not to live in cliché, or distill my lyrics into something simple just so it’s immediate. My music lives in metaphor and in dissecting complicated feelings that have multiple angles and possibilities. It’s not meant to be easy, though I do love a big banger poppy chorus. 

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

To trust myself. There’s so much good music and so many good musicians out there that imposter syndrome is a very familiar friend. When I started genuinely listening to what I thought and felt it became easier to find my sound, rather than being influenced so heavily by producers or fans or the music business.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

My guitar and my piano are essential. My songs all start very simply, usually as poems, and then I play some chords and hum until I find a melody and edit my lyrics a bit. So, rather than any software everything begins acoustic and raw. 

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

I’m loving Blondshell at the moment. She’s just so cool. The first song I heard of hers was ‘Salad’ and I thought it was so visceral and such a perfect example of a female experience embossed into music. The specificity of her music is admirable, I think. Her tracks ‘Kiss City’ and ‘Olympus’ are also incredible.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

I think it would be a bit cheeky to write everything about my friend’s lives and then have to explain that when they hear the songs. As I said, it’s all working through what’s happening or has happened in my life, though some songs are more abstract than others, and that has a lot to do with the honesty I work towards in my music. I don’t want anything from the sound to my social media to feel too constructed.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

Whatever feels true to them! I never want to force anyone to feel exactly what I feel about my music, because there’s no wrong interpretation, it’s subjective. 

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

I think it’s been a really good lesson in not caring what people think. Oddly, a lot of music is looking at pictures of yourself way too often, listening to your own voice even more often than that, and so there’s a lot of room for judgement, both from others and from yourself. Also, a lot of your life is lived on social media, so it’s been important in order to stay true to my music to stop caring about what people think of me. For example, if they think a reel I posted is embarrassing or they don’t like my music, that isn’t something I can control, all I can do is make what I think is good music.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

I’d absolutely love to play at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. I’ve been twice and both times were completely transformative. You’re in a tiny room and everyone really just wants to listen to the music and the lyrics. 

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

I’d try my best to jump on stage with Stevie Nicks, because she’s been one of my biggest influences in terms of writing and style, but I think I’d probably end up weeping the whole time. 

Where can our listeners follow and support your music?

(Website,Spotify, IG, links)

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

I only graduated from university in Summer ’25, so I’m really excited to play a load of gigs and hop on a tour, and for the EP to come out, of course!

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

I hope listeners discover that I’m still figuring things out, just like everyone else. A lot of my music comes from asking questions rather than having answers, and I think there’s something comforting in that shared uncertainty. If people connect with my songs, I’d love it to be because they recognise parts of themselves in the tracks, not because they feel they need to understand me perfectly.