IDER Tell Us How They Wrote 'Brown Sugar' As A 'Confident, Sexy, Empowered' Alt-Pop Song

On a Friday evening earlier this month, Lily Somerville and Megan Markwick had just returned to the flat they share in London immediately after a flight in from New York. In only another day, though, they'd be gone again, taking their electro-folk musical group IDER on a European tour. The inaugural stop? Back to their old college in South West England for the initial time since their student days, any time whenever they met in a music course and started playing elegant, harmony-laden acoustic music with each other. They're excited. "Feeling a little full circle, you know?" Somerville told MTV News before they made the trek.


The pair have plenty to feel sparky about. In the years since a 2013 Falmouth University campus piece described them as "a banjo and guitar wielding female folk duo who are snowballing to success," Somerville and Markwick have gilded their analog sound with a digital edge: Synthesizers, keyboards, and electronic percussion feature on "Brown Sugar," their R&B- and Kendrick Lamar-inspired latest single. It's one of several IDER cuts released within the past few years that establish the duo as a moody force of nimble, intertwined vocals that hit your ear as a sole substance. Case in point, as a recent "Brown Sugar" live video showcases, their recitation of the chorus sounds more like a sole voice double-tracked in the studio than two separate entities. They get that a lot.


"As long as we've been companions, we've been making music with each other Markwick mentioned. "That'll explain the vocal connecting."


Another possible explanation is the songcraft itself. Markwick called their creation process "chaotic," a trait that seemingly evaporates before any trace of it surfaces on the finished tracks. Lyrically, a usual IDER song can scratch several millennial angst itches: pesky FOMO, impostor feelings exacerbated by being online, self-worth in a time of crisis, and the like. "You've Got Your Whole Life Ahead Of You Baby" opens with an earnest couplet so refreshingly devoid of any irony it belongs in a AIM away message: "I'm in my 20s so I'm panicking every way / I'm so scared of the future, I keep missing today." It makes sense to learn, then, that IDER songs often start with words before music, as was the case with "Brown Sugar."


"We were listening to a lot of R&B. We were really inspired by that and wanted to write a confident, sort of sexy, empowered song," Markwick mentioned. Somerville credits a recently obtained Roland synth, "a new toy," with helping them locate the song's mood through the the bursting sound that runs while in. It's the opening sound you hear on the track.


Whenever the pair had lyrics as well as a general idea of what they wanted the song to be, they booked studio time with Rodaidh McDonald — whose production has built quiet smolders out of tracks by Adele, The xx, Sampha, and more — to give it a final shape. "We really wanted it to be a little bit option and not a regular pop song," Somerville mentioned. Yet it's not habitually easy to know as soon as whenever a song is complete. Often, time decides for you. "I mean, you can carry on forever [in the studio], couldn't you?" Markwick mentioned before identifying one key moment that ultimately punctuated the tune.


Listen to "Brown Sugar" again. Pay attention to the final chorus, which hits slightly differently than the preceding refrains. There's a particularly ghostly, shimmering sound — whenever you know it's there, you'll hear it. "We ended up sampling two of our harmonies also it almost sounds a little like a brass part right now Somerville revealed. "I remember that moment as soon as we did that ... A little bit of a 'OK, we're there' moment." The eerie flourish makes "Brown Sugar" crackle with electricity, a trait that could make it welcome business on a playlist of songs by artists they love, whose work they take inspiration from — people like earthy studio wiz Rostam ("such a cool producer"), nocturnal hip-hop wonder Obongjayar astonishing, and even Billie Eilish ("a rock star").


you may even find all these centralized in one place (on Spotify) with a wonderful mixtape name ("IDER like to listen to that") featuring eight picks from each of those and spanning pop giants like Ariana Grande and also rising songwriters like Phoebe Bridgers. "She's pushing boundaries by collaborating with everyone," Markwick mentioned. "She usually be releasing new music – and Ariana Grande is doing it as well, on their own terms and because it's right for them and because it's relevant in their life."


As for the lives of IDER, 2019 will be busy: a new album this summer, a new single sooner than that, and the rest of this tour while in western Europe. It's a lot to make for. How do the companions and collaborators keep up the energy to do it? "I don't know. We just talk a lot," Markwick mentioned with a laugh. "We chat about everything and keep being friends."