There’s a particular kind of artist who resists easy categorisation. Redfreya is one of them. Classically trained on piano, flute and voice, raised between a jazz saxophonist and a flamenco guitarist, and now crafting deep, introspective electronic music that balances emotional depth with forward momentum, hers is a sound shaped by a life lived fully in music.
Over the last decade, through weekly radio residencies, London club nights and releases on Eastern Standard and Marcus Worgull’s Chorus imprint, she has built a reputation for sets and productions that feel genuinely, unmistakably her own: melodic, psychedelic, unhurried, emotionally raw. With support from the likes of Dixon, Jimi Jules, John Digweed and Hernan Cattaneo, and a packed release schedule ahead, 2026 is shaping up to be her biggest year yet.
We talked about live jams, lightning storms, the myth of the perfect studio set-up, and what it really means to follow only what you love.
You’re an artist who bridges classical training with electronic music, how did that crossover first happen, and was it a deliberate move or something that evolved organically?
I’ve been doing music since I was young, both for fun and as something I took seriously – I studied piano, flute, singing and music theory for 5-10 years, and when I was 17-18 I considered studying it at conservatoire (but changed my mind and studied Anthropology instead). I have professional musicians on both sides of my family (a jazz saxophonist and a Spanish flamenco guitarist), so music is strongly within me. I fell deeply in love with electronic music as soon as I encountered it – a world so diverse and containing so much creativity and artistry of sound. Something about the repetitive minimalistic structures of the music captivated me. I don’t think anything has been deliberate but, I just kept following what I loved and ended up here, and I bring all my past influences with me into my world as an electronic artist myself now. I think you can hear this in my musical approach, both DJ sets and production – especially with melodies, polyrhythms, and raw emotions.
What was the moment you knew you wanted to pursue electronic music seriously, and what inspired you to do so?
It was a kind of gradual process of discovering and letting things unfold naturally. Everything that led me to where I am now, I did because I was in love – with the music itself, and also the experiences I’d had on club dancefloors. It was powerful and transformative for me. I felt magnetically drawn to this space, and at first I pursued it very un-seriously, following only passion. I started out with DJing and collecting music casually (about 10 years ago), which slowly turned into a radio show (which was monthly at first and then became weekly for a few years) – most of my early club gigs came to me due to my radio presence, and then more gig offers came from this, it grew organically. I also built my own reputation in London from my club sets, often by playing unusual music, I started to get known for having my own sound within my sets. I think I only decided to pursue things seriously once I was already gigging quite actively and enjoying it a lot. Aafter this, I started to make my own electronic music in the last couple of years, and each thing seemed to follow as a natural next step on the journey.
Nature and human connection come up as recurring inspirations in your work. Can you give a specific example of how something outside of music has directly shaped a track or a release?
My music is written from deep emotional places, or inspiring and beautiful experiences that give me a feeling of awe and I want to transmute that into something. I’ve also written a lot of music about turbulent emotions and storms I faced in my life, or feeling confused by the mysteries of existence and why we are here at all. These themes recur often in my work. Ever Green from the recent EP is sort of inspired by these existential questions. There is sort of a hopeful feeling inside the track, with the uplifting but atonal synth lines that are juxtaposed against some slightly darker moodier sounds. Maybe the track is saying – keep going, because some things are ever green and can bloom all year despite winter darkness. I wrote my new track that comes out on Zero9 label next month during a very intense lightning storm taking place outside, so in this instance I was directly inspired.
Your music has been compared to Matthew Herbert’s approach, where concept, rhythm and texture operate as one unified idea rather than separate elements. Is he someone you actively listen to and draw from, or is that a parallel that surprised you when you heard it?
I was very surprised when I heard this – it’s a big compliment to me because I love Matthew Herbert and think it’s extremely classy music. BBC Introducing also compared my music to John Talabot/Axel Boman, artists I’ve always been inspired by, and when I hear these types of comparisons it’s a little crazy to me. But it also means I am on the right track, with what I am doing and where I’m going.
Your new EP dropped recently on well-respected Eastern Standard. How did that relationship come about?
I am quite connected to a lot of labels and producers because I have been playing their music for years, especially via the Radio. I also met the lovely JEPE a few times over the years when he came to play in London, and we hung out in Berlin last year when he came to a showcase for the label I co-founded with Motip White, In Limbo Audio. Around this time I shared the demos with him, and he was so supportive and wanted to sign the music immediately. I was touched by this because he has always believed in music which has an ‘artistic / authentic’ identity, and he saw this in my tracks, which was cool, especially because they are not very ‘dancefloor’ oriented but more experimental sound-palettes.
Your tracks sound like recorded jams and have a length you don’t hear much in electronic music anymore. Was that the case, or did they take shape more gradually?
The latest release on Eastern Standard, these tracks were very much recorded as ‘live jams’ and have not had much refinement – they are more raw and playful in style. I was in a headspace where I wanted to feel free and creative – sometimes I feel very constrained by the ‘rules’ of dance music, genres, and how it has to ‘work’ on a dancefloor and I wanted to free myself from this. In contrast, my release on Marcus Worgull’s Chorus label last year (Reverse The Process) had a much more gradual development with a few iterations and it is a clubbier, more driving track.
I am very inspired by this ‘live-jam’ approach, I love electronic artists that incorporate this – for example, Romare, Caribou, Yor Kultura, John Talabot, Pantha Du Prince, Map.Ache and my friend & label partner Motip White all use this in their work. It feels less common these days – as you mentioned, the majority of tracks now are shorter, with big drops, technical shiny percussion and synth elements – but for me they can be missing the feeling/ emotional core, because I really want to hear the artist expressing themselves in a way that only they can, more than anything else in the music.
Do you work in the studio or more in the box? Any favourite tool or technique you could share with us?
Right now, I work ‘in the box’ with ableton and a small AKAI MPK midi keyboard. I travel often, so I like the ease of this portable set-up. Ableton is a very powerful tool, and with such a range of plug-ins for sound and FX, I don’t really feel limited by working like this.
The music is coming from inside you, your feelings, perspectives, your inner voice, so the way you capture it and ‘write it down’, for me, doesn’t matter too much. I guess I don’t think the ‘method’ would change the musical core. I would love to have the opportunity to work more with synths, live gear and a bigger studio set up in future just to broaden my craft and explore that world, but 1) it’s not portable, 2) it’s expensive, so for now I just focus on the tools at my disposal – but I don’t feel like it holds me back and I enjoy working in this way.
In terms of tools, within my music I like to incorporate weird, thought provoking sound textures. People have described my music as a bit psychedelic, maybe because of this. So I am often looking for ways to create this – sometimes I’m using atonal or glitchy sounds – I use a lot of ableton built-in fx such as resonators, chorus/ensemble fx and pitch modulation for this. I use the Arturia sound library for a lot of my sounds, alongside ableton which also has great sounds, and my favourite reverb atm is Little Plate by Soundtoys (always use it on hats).
AI is reshaping how music is made, distributed, and even discovered. As someone whose work is deeply rooted in emotional intent and human experience, where do you stand on its role in electronic music?
Because I think the art is coming from inside the artist, I don’t think the external ‘tools’ matter too much or make that much difference as long as they don’t limit you. I think that a case can be made for using AI as a tool just like using other VSTs, as long as the overall work you’re creating is in itself – original (which is something that AI can’t really achieve).
Originality is the ultimate end goal for me, and this is much more important than technical perfection. In fact, I think that imperfection can even deepen originality – it can be refreshing and part of a unique identity. So I think using AI can be helpful on more technical, less creative tasks in music-making (the more engineering focused stuff), it can speed things up and free up your time as the artist to do more creative deeper work.
But just like any tool – how you use it matters. People were copying styles and not trying to be original or care too much on self expression, before AI – it was just slower. Now you can ‘copy’ a music style or a track very fast, but the real question is – what’s the point, is there any value in the outcome?
Being based between the UK and the US gives you exposure to two very distinct electronic music cultures. How do those two worlds differ for you, and has one shaped your identity as an artist more than the other? Where do you feel more at home?
I’ve been based in London for the last 10 years, and have also spent frequent trips to Cologne in Germany, so I think these two cities and music cultures have had the biggest impact on my artistic and sonic identity. My move to the USA has been recent in the last 6 months, so I am only just discovering how the music scene differs over here, but it’s quite an inspiring experience in itself to be in a new place surrounded by different nature and cultural experiences. It’s cool to explore.
What can you tell us about what’s coming in 2026? Any new releases or shows you are excited about?
In a few weeks I will have my next music release – on Zero9, the label of my friend James Harcourt – it feels meaningful to release here as James always gave me a lot of advice on my journey as a producer. My track is coming on the label’s first VA compilation.
In May, I have a 3x track EP coming out as part of a VERY special and big project – most of my followers will know the brand, which has been a well respected platform for many years within this genre. I can’t say more about it until the launch, but I’m very excited about it and it’s more than just an EP release, there will be other things tied into it. I’m also looking forward to release these tracks into the world, as it’s some of the most personal music I’ve made so far.
Then in the summer, we intend to drop the first music release on our own imprint In Limbo Audio, with tracks from me and Motip White. Since it’s our own project, we are really looking forward to this big step.
In April – May I will have my next EU tour, with an In Limbo showcase in Cologne & gigs in Switzerland, Belgium and the UK. Then in the summer I will play at Origins Festival in the UK (opening for John Monkman who I’m a fan of), and then making my Canada debut at M-DGTL Festival in August. So there is a lot to come this year.