Feminists Around the World: Divide and Dissolve

Today we're highlighting the music and activism of Australian musical group Divide and Dissolve.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
ever told your production. iHeart Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
And to end the year of twenty twenty five, we
are featuring a musical group from Australia who's been using
music to speak out against colonization, oppression and white supremacy
and for our activists around the world. We are talking
about the group Divide and Dissolve. So Divide and Dissolve
released their first album in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen when

(00:39):
it was formed by duo ta Kaya Reid the saxophonist
and guitarist and Sylvie Nahill the percussionist. So Reid was
actually born in Texas but was raised in Melbourne, Australia,
and she identifies as black and Cherokee, and Nahill is
an Australian Native but also has Maori background. So they
came to get there to make music that push for

(01:01):
black and Indigenous empowerment and rights.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
So you know, we already love that here and.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
If you do get a chance, obviously they have a
lot of albums and they are available all on your
any of the apps, musical apps, and their album is
really cool, like it's nice instrumentals and then it gives
you a good upbeat. If I was still running, I
think i'd have to put them on my list. It
feels very motivating. Okay, yeah, yeah, you need to go
check them out. It's really interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
I'm like, oh yeah, so you definitely get that vibe.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
And I don't know if I would say it's heavy
metal as much as they're saying it heavy, but for
some reason, I'm gonna stick with the heavy metal because
it fills with that downbeat.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
It feels really good. It feels like you could definitely
wash in this. And I say this as a non masher.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's about the say, well, the few times I've gone
to those shows, I would actually get protected by my
bigger friends, so I didn't get crushed because they're serious.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
They are serious, and if you get stuck, it's hard
to get out.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Something and you're not ready for it. Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Anyways, So they have stated before in interviews that they
wanted to decolonize metal and push past the narrative that
heavy metal and heavy music had to be explicitly mel centered.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
So they really wanted to break those molds, and.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
In twenty twenty three, Nahil actually left the band, but
Reid continued with the music, bringing in different artists for
the progression, so you'll have different people have opportunities to
play with her. So she talked about how cool that
was and featuring different artists who had similar backgrounds with her. So,
with five albums under their belt, they've continued to push
the boundaries of what their genre was about. So this

(02:34):
is from their website and on how they describe themselves,
they say Takaya Reid is a two spirit Black and
Cherokee composer, multi instrumentalist, and leader of her band Divide
and Dissolve, an internationally acclaimed band whose work bridges do metal,
neoclassical composition, and sound design. Her practice is rooted in
decolonial politics and a commitment to envisioning liberatory futures. Their

(02:55):
recent works gas Lit and Systemic, produced by Ruben Nielsen
of Unknown Mortal Orchestra and released on Invader Records, roped
the band to wider international audiences, including a twenty twenty
four US tour supporting Chelsea Wolf. Their newest record, Insatiable
Belly Union, pushes the boundaries of doom metal by weaving
in re saxophone voice, and compositional approach that balances heaviness

(03:19):
with emotional clarity.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
It is very nice. I could definitely feel those moments.
And as she.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Continues in her musical career, Reid has only dug her
hills and deeper into the messaging of her music. So
from an article from Madernnews dot Org, they write, growing
up Black and Cherokee, Reid said she always carried within
her the reality that our social and political systems can
and do perpetuate these cycles of violence. And yet this
reality hasn't overwhelmed the love and beauty that can go

(03:46):
hand in hand with existence, an idea that sufferces most
cleanly in the album's closing desire, which serves as a
point of sonic hope read and Coe conjuring the sound
of sunlight finally breaking through the clouds at the tail
end of a long, ferocious storm. And she has stayed
firm in the genre of music that is her music.
Though she was classically trained with the saxophone, she plays
as she feels, and her perseverance has only increased her

(04:09):
fan base. Obviously we're part of that now. And this
is from a Guardian article featuring her and her work.
They write, while audiences have warmed to the band's message.
More Over the years, Reid says she continues to talk
about her themes on stage as she's aware that there's
not many people who look like me doing this type
of music. She still sometimes encounters audience members who are

(04:30):
confused about why a woman of color is playing in
a heavy band. If you're in shock about the type
of music that's being played, then let me just.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Be really clear what this music is about.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
And she said this about the music she makes from
Solvo dot Ghost dot Io, and I think it's important
that we make sure we include her words on this.
She writes, I know that music's heavy, but I feel
genre less. We get booked at so many different things
all the time. Fashion stuff, art stuff, classical music stuff.
I'm a classically trained musician and I play a lot

(05:01):
of instruments. People can hear that in the music. They're like, oh,
but it sounds like because it is. I'm really grateful
that I have the ability to play different instruments, and
I feel very comfortable in a classical music setting or
in many different settings, and I love composing. So it
isn't surprising to know that she has had some pushback
and has had some conflict throughout our career. So in

(05:21):
twenty eighteen, their video Resistance was actually removed from YouTube
due to the protests and criticisms of politicians and some
media outlets for spraying and spinning on colonial figures, but
was reinstated with an apology from YouTube. And we know
about this kind of backlash and the pushback when it
comes to like, but it is this freedom of speech.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
They really weren't doing these things. What are you going
to do about this?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
And because people don't like it, they complain real loud,
and from their same Salva dot ghost io article, she
says this about the reaction about her newest album as
well as what she's doing. If I'm to generalize, most
people are really supportive and I appreciate that a lot.
There are some pushbacks sometimes, but most of the time,

(06:05):
people understand what free Palestine means and they understand why
white supremacy must end. And I think people when they
look at me, they understand why I would want white
supremacy to not exist and why I want land back
for Indigenous people. I'm sure talking about this stuff is impactful.
It impacts me. People have had violent reactions to me before.
People have screened from the audience. A few things that

(06:27):
have happened where it's been scary. But I do not
want to be dominated by fear. There are so many
prices that we pay, and sometimes not saying things has
an impact. I don't want to live in that fear.
Anything is possible. I could live a really long life.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I could not.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
But whatever I'm doing, I would like to know that
I tried really hard and I did it with all
my heart. It's a drop in the ocean. That's it,
and I'm totally happy with that. I'm like, cool, here's
my one drop in the ocean. The water returns to
the sky and it falls back down, and there's all
these cycles of life and water. Our bodies give out
and then they return to the earth. I'm just participating
in a way that feels good for me. I love that.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Very poetic.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Obviously, she's an artist, so her newest album, Insatia Well,
has been well received and was even nominated or put
on the shortlist for the Australian Music Prize and by
the way, their first I believe the first album won
the Music Victoria Award in twenty seventeen, so pretty big deal.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
In Australia and.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
In that same interview, Reid talks about their newest album,
and this is what she had to say. My newest
single off of my new album, it is about that
hope and love. It's about how we make decisions today
in the present or in the past that will influence
the future and hopefully these things will make things better.
And sometimes you work towards something that you won't experience
in this lifetime. I think about how older people will

(07:43):
continue to remind me and my friends things were a
lot harder when I was a child, or when my
parents were children, or when their parents were children. Then
we're getting into slavery, and you go back and back
more and you're getting into these genocides. They're very close
in our future, in our past, and for me, the
music is about the hope of love that's required in
order to make decisions that will impact the dispossession and

(08:04):
the geneticide that's happening and hopefully making things better for people.
Sometimes that those feelings are so distanced and far away
and impossible.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
I called it.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Monolithic because we are dealing with monolithic entities where it's
been posed as truth and unstoppable and unchangeable, but anything
is possible, especially getting rid of subjectivity of systemic oppression.
So this is about holding onto that in a way
that feels loving and filled with compassion. Like she said,
this last album was something about breaking through with love

(08:33):
and hope, and their descriptor of the last song about
breaking out of the clouds and seeing sun. I feel
like she really is coming full circle in this conversation
and in these albums.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
And also I love.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
The irony of heavy metal or heavy music being about
love and hope because you don't expect that, so it's
not like as like sound would go. It's ironic, but
in actuality it feels like, yeah, that's what breaks through.
So I love when we have creators like this and
artists like this that use their music for something so
much bigger and so much broader. So I'm really excited
to go listen to the whole album. I only heard

(09:06):
a couple of songs, and I encourage you to do
as well. Again, it's Divide and Dissolve and you can
go and check that out.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yes, yes, and please go do so. Listeners, And if
you would like to contact us, you can You can
email us at Hello at stuff Whenever Told You dot com.
You can find us on Blue Sky at mom Stuff podcast,
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I Never Told You.
We're also on YouTube. We have some new merchandise accomp Hero,
and we have a book you can get wherever you
get your books. Thanks as always to our super produce

(09:34):
Christina or Executive Brus, to my and your contributor Joey,
thank you, and thanks to you for listening. Stuff When
Never Told You is production by Heart Radio. For more
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