On a soft-lit spring afternoon in Camden, inside the hallowed walls of the Green Note, something quietly powerful was to unfurled.
Not just folk music, and certainly not just another run of the mill gig. It was something raw and reaching — a communal exhale woven from cello strings, soft electronics, and voices that might echo the first stories ever sung.
Freda D’Sousa, Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi, and Nika Mo (a.k.a. Anika Moses) are three distinct voices, tethered by something deeper than genre. Call it experimental folk, ambient confessionals, or sonic landscapes haunted by memory and meaning — whatever it is, it’s fiercely personal and deeply resonant. Their music comes from far-off places and inner worlds, shaped by identity, curiosity, and the unshakable feeling that songs still matter.
We got lucky and caught up with the trio before their Green Note show to talk about how they found each other, how they write music that defies traditional forms, and what the future of folk might look like when it’s made by artists like these — fluid, fearless, and unafraid of the unknown.
I find it hard to talk broadly about my music, I’m very specific. I’m a creative person, working mainly in music but I work in lots of different mediums.'
1st 3 Magazine – Hi Freda, Sophia and Annika, tell us about yourselves and your music…
Annika– My project is called Nico Mo. I’m from Perth, Boorlu and this project is always amorphous but always folk; tender with its origins in alternative folk.
Freda- I’m from London. I find it hard to talk broadly about my music, I’m very specific. I’m a creative person, working mainly in music but I work in lots of different mediums. In a live-playing context I’m singer songwriter and I was thinking, how can I move that more towards using more improve, using instruments in a different way?
Sophia– I struggle to be broad about my music but I make ‘experimental ambient folk music’. I play ‘cello, sing and use that as a medium of expression.
When I’m writing I find it more like writing a sonic landscape- but not one that exists."
1st 3- Is folk music your communality? Was it folk music that brought you together?
Annika and Freda– Sophia’s the link!
Sophia – I’m from Perth, am based in London- I met Freda 2 years ago at Uni (Goldsmiths in London), studying Music. We worked on a couple of projects, more experimental-classical kind of stuff, but we did some similar singer/songwriter projects. So I think it is folk music (that is our commonality) but we all have a weirdo tinge/flavour as well! Folk could be a lot of different things. We’ve also all done a lot of electronic experimental stuff.
1st 3- Thinking about some of the ways your music has been described- “a sonic mesh”- “a wash of sound”- what is that and how do you get that sound?
Annika– Ambience. Sometimes electronics and sometimes it’s about creating space and making it feel like a landscape. Thinking about songs vertically as opposed to linear- like, de-linearizing. Layers.
1st 3- Do you all work that way?
Sophia- Yeah. A more traditional approach to song writing is like a more linear structure of like, verse/chorus/verse/bridge etc. Some of the songs I write are more ‘song songs’ and then others, it’s more like paying attention to texture, making a sound poem, when you’re stepping into a world.
1st 3- and the subjects and themes that you write about, are they in some ways quite typical folk themes; stories, relationships, friendships, obsessions?
Annika– it varies a lot. I think mine borders on confessional singer/songwriter. I think a lot about place. They are so much placed in Perth so it will be interesting to see how become part of where they are performed. They are universally themed, but they become very much part of the places they are within.
Sophia– I think that might be a difference for us. When I was listening to your EP, it made me very nostalgic for home. Your music reminds me of certain things and places I would visit back home. When I’m writing I find it more like writing a sonic landscape- but not one that exists.
It’s less about the distinction between childhood and adulthood and more about finding space and moments through music."
1st 3- has the history of Black Australia affected your composition?
Annika– Totally! I am involved in a lot of community projects and am a facilitator in regional communities. It’s very important to me to think about being a white settler.
1st 3- We could feel a thread through all your music about identity, diversity, inclusion and equity. Would you agree these are common themes for your music?
Freda– It’s something I think about. I’m a person of colour and it’s not something I write ‘about’ but something I write from a place ‘of’. I don’t think I want to put that explicit pressure on myself. When I did my Master’s, I was aware I had a scholarship and I was thinking, do I need to make stuff about this? And then I thought, if I’m making stuff from a place ‘of’ rather than ‘about’, it becomes more authentic.
1st 3- We are wondering about the future of Folk Music- thinking about the future, is it becoming more niche, dividing into two separate camps- traditional folk versus more experimental composition?
Annika- That’s interesting – there’s definitely a place for tradition because it’s about lineage-There’s none of us making music without all these people before us, so I think that’s really important to recognise. It’s about acknowledging the past- where it’s coming from and keeping the practices going.
1st 3- Is there a common theme in your music of the bridge between childhood and adulthood? Where do you see the endings and beginnings?
Annika– Life is always so much full of change. There’s the very obvious child to adult transition but we’re always moving through these changes, through our bodies, moving somewhere. I don’t think there’s a line, it’s like finding ways to reconnect with your inner child. It’s less about the distinction between childhood and adulthood and more about finding space and moments through music.
1st 3 – the Green Note is lovely, but what is your dream venue and who would play there with you?
Freda– a church setting with Joanna Newson Cynthia Stevens- I need about 2 weeks to think about that!
Sophia– I’m thinking big- maybe The Barbican?
Annika– I don’t know, I like small venues. I don’t think about being famous or doing enormous shows- I like a room where you can see everyone.
1st 3 – What are your musical influences and did any of these stem from your childhood?
Freda- For me it’s quite broad- tiny little things from different artists
Sophia- Taylor Swift was someone for me, when I was a kid. It’s shifted a lot from that now- it’s a lot different!
Annika– I love the singer Josephine Foster – she was a trained opera singer and then got into weird folk!
Sophia– The community of musicians around me now – getting to play with them influences my direction. It’s different to just listening, you get to see how people are doing it.
Freda- Anna, who I play with a lot, influences me a lot. It’s like a lovely little web ecology. Time is funny- we couldn’t have foreseen that we’d end up doing a show together. The lines are stretched back and become the future.
Sophia– all these little things have thrown us together
Green Note – Camden Town – May 2025
