Ronja and Spider Network are redefining Iceland’s experimental music scene

Lead photo by Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir. From left to right: Yulia Vasileva, Fíóna Rokk Steinunnardóttir, Eva Yuki Mik, Masaya Ozaki, Konrad Groen, Jökull Máni Reynisson, Ronja Jòhannsdottir As the sky darkened towards solar eclipse totality on 12 August this year, Ronja Jóhannsdóttir, surrounded by her closest companions, shared the spotlight for epic benchmark scenes at Björk’s Echolalia festival. The most mischievous of DJ sets soundtracked a once-in-a-generation cosmic display by way of maximalist glitch electronica, lowercase ambient, and some magnificent mic screaming. “The concert was just unreal, it all felt like a dream sequence,” Ronja remembers.I talk to Ronja, and the rest of her musical collective – known as Spider Network – just two days after the chaos of playing Echolalia. “It was surreal, all the friends together, just witnessing the sky felt apocalyptic," she adds. Of course, sharing a lineup alongside Reykjavík royalty, plus her esteemed protégé Arca, is an impressive feat. Their set had been rehearsed, but in true ronja fashion, plans remained unfinished, deliberately, until much of the day itself. There was also no prescriptive brief from Björk. “She just got u...