WL//WH Interview LIA HIDE
Lia Hide
Lia Hide is an Athenian (GR) singer/songwriter, producer, music educator and performer. Her music is dark, art, avant-garde, and yes… pop. She has collaborated and appeared with Tricky, KBHTA, Kovacs, Joseph van Wissem, Anneke van Giersbergen, Keep Shelly in Athens, Molly Nilsson, Kadebostany, Robin Skouteris and many more. Lia Hide has been touring Greece and Europe (Italy, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Poland, France, Germany, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary) as well as the US and Canada extensively.
I have known her music and her potential for years. We first met at a concert, where we exchanged views on various topics. Since then, I have been looking for an opportunity to interview her, which arose with the release of her new album, “ARISTOPHOBIA NERVOSA” (via the Institute for Experimental Arts, Athens). Lia Hide is a straightforward person, and you’ll notice that as you read this interview. We discussed music, lyrics, and art, and she also shared her thoughts on many socio-political issues. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Lia Hide.
Hello, Lia Hide, and welcome to WL//WH. Let’s get straight to the hot news: a brand-new album with the provocatively strange title “Aristophobia Nervosa” and a cover that will provoke discussions, laughter, and anathema. What does all this say about the artist’s new work?
I think it says that the artist is a bit fed up with the current ‘world’ we’re living in! And I am! I am and was very tired of it all, while creating this album, and tried to put as much optimism as I could in this work, hence the little .. playful joke of the cover! Now the title is a different story, I’ve been having these two words stuck in my head since 2019, there was no way I was naming this work otherwise! (If you are wondering what happened in 2019, well, the word “Aristos” started appearing very often in our lives, through the media – I simply could not bear it anymore, got sick of the word, although it is supposed to mean excellence and achievement…)
[Note by Mike D; “Aristos” in Greek means “superior” or “chosen,” but our country’s (GR) utterly corrupt government abuses it, and rapes it, daily]This is the fifth album in the string of your releases and the first one to be entirely sung in the Greek language. What does this decision of yours “scream out,” and why did it happen?
To be very very honest and completely accurate it is not the first time I’ve sung in Greek release, but yes it is the first album that’s throughout in the Greek language (if you look in the web, you’ll find a few more songs, I used to hate them, but I know understand they are just polaroids of who I was back then). Lately I’ve been thinking, I’ve been most modest, and have not given myself enough credit for all the work I’ve put out there…I keep not including my Remixes and my “Genoktonia” (music commissioned for the same-titled dance-drama by Pavlos Kourtidis) albums in my works’ count, so that would sum them up to a total of 7 albums to date, and if we count the previous collaborative discography we’d exceed a dozen. There were reasons that lead to that decision, the Greek language I mean ; I think I was mostly influenced by the people we’ve met while touring abroad who kept asking for a Greek song or something sung in Greek at our shows, and I realized I had been avoiding my mother tongue for no reason. At first, I thought I respected our language far too much to ..ruin it with silly love words, but then as I started writing, it kept coming, I liked it, and decided to release it, after all!
Who are you talking to on the new album?
Anyone out there. Mostly people who do not know me, I guess. I feel like I’ve been a bit suppressed by my surroundings, and I know people who are close to me love me, but this sometimes suffocates me. So I am more or less reaching out for help, from those who don’t know me, strange, isn’t it? But I feel like the people who create my friends+family circle need more and more of me every day, and ask constantly of me to be there, to be attentive, to be little miss perfect. Now that is I who is in need I feel like there’s nothing they can do to help me – mostly because I’ve grown afraid of my own voice in a way (it’s burn out, that’s what it feels like..) – so I am shouting for anyone that will lend an ear, I am anyone who feels as blue as I do…
In 8 out of the 10 new songs, I feel like we hear the words for each different day of a woman in the city. Your words are often bitter, angry, a little nostalgic, and political. This is life in Athens, but isn’t it pretty much the same all over the world? What prompted you to write these words?
I know we feel that here in Athens, things are horrible. But I have to tell you: we’ve been on the road since 2019, and with the little Covid break excluded, we did not stop. We have visited 18 European countries so far, and everywhere people feel like we do. They say their government are corrupt and don’t care about arts and culture, and health and education are suffering, especially in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, like Sweden, but they have different problems there, trust me. It’s perfect nowhere. So I feel like my words could be the words of anyone, any girl, any boy, any person in any city, town, village, mountain top.
However, there are also 2 unique tracks on the album, “Nthymion” and “To Gnothi”, that are both instrumental yet so different from each other. What is happening in these 2 tracks is very descriptive (even though they don’t have words), and I wonder what “explanations” are hidden in there.
“Nthymion” is a trap, I fell into it. I created the trap myself and took the bait. My band loves post music. And I sometimes would nag how some of it is not that good as to be worshipped, at which statement they would laugh at me, and so they should (!). So one day, I said, I’ll make a post music piece myself, to show you it’s not that hard to make. And it was very hard – so yes, the joke’s on me! “Nthymion” almost did not make it to the album, it was very demanding and I will never be insolent about anything again, promise!.. So, no more bragging for me! Gnothi on the other hand, has lyrics, but it’s just 2 words. It says “ I am a ..” and I am waiting for the listener to fill in the dotted line there – there will be a video for “Gnothi”, soon, I hope I will make my intentions clearer with the visual art!
In the new album, you explore a blend of spoken word with urban trip-hop and avant-pop, which is subtly enhanced by post-rock bridges and elements. Did you find it easier to fit the words into these grooves, or did the music come first and shape the lyrics?
It happened at the same time, I think, if I remember! The album has been in the making for approximately 2 years, so some memories already fade.. I found it very easy to fit the words in the grooves, yes – Ι mean, as a songwriter, and being my own albums’ producer for the past decade, it feels very easy to manoeuvre around obstacles, when they occur: and they did occur – some instrumentals would just not reach closure and some stories seemed to go on and on forever, so I had to stay up late and edit my self again and again. It was the arranging, sound designing, editing and production that took most of my time, in the end, not the songwriting itself. And yes, sometimes the music came first, sometimes they both were born together (music and lyrics) it was a very spontaneous creation, altogether, at times a song would be created in less than a few hours. I cannot say I have the perfect recipe, on how to finish an album, other than being honest and working hard on it.
It all seems like this album was a necessity for you to create, but I’m also trying to figure out what might have inspired you to make this music.
All together? To begin with? I really don’t know. I feel safe when I am creating music. I feel safe when I am alone with it, and I let it pour. I sometimes wish I was a bit more well-off financially and could afford to do only that, I would be a much happier person. I feel like the artist is suffering when forced to be a ‘normal’ person, we perceive the world in a very different way, and respond to it through our art, and when forced to be ‘normal’, this all crumbles. The album happened as its previous little sibling, “the Missing Fourth Guest“ – I felt free from what people were expecting of me, and I started writing music. This is how my head and heart feel and have worked for quite some time now, I used to be far more absorbed into what people might think of my work, I used to hope they would embrace it and tried to create things they might like more, but now I really don’t mind. To be 100% honest, I was hoping people would embrace this album more, being it in Greek, but I bit my tongue there, and learned this lessons all over again, you cannot expect anything of the audience – there’s so much information out there, and so much trend setting manipulation that nothing really makes sense.
The necessity, or rather urgency was more on the first part of the album, I needed to tell that story. Once upon a time that filthy old man took advantage of me as a young little girl, and I wanted this story to be out there, and to be in Greek, as it happened in Greece, in a prestigious institution in Athens. From then on, though, it was just a stream of thoughts that collided into one sculpture, one work of art altogether, and when a work of art is shaping it won’t ask for your permission, you are its humble servant, you must simply respond to the calling and the needs of the songs.
Is there a Lia Hide “pre” or a Lia Hide “post” with this album? Is this a new stepping stone for you or a challenge to your artistry?
I constantly feel the need to evolve. I am already creating the next album – we have a lot of material already: we’ve already recorded stuff in Bulgaria, where we spent two weeks there, after we received a grant from Culture Moves Europe last Easter. And I am also already scribling new ideas, I mean, I just cannot stop, if an idea wakes me up, I have to follow it. But I myself cannot understand the change if it happens, the pre or post ‘Lia’, as I am working in and with it. I feel the observer is the one who can tell, not me.
How long did it take you to complete it, and who are your collaborators on the new album?
It took me approximately 2 years to write, arrange, sound design and pre-produce it, working constantly with Aki’Base (bass) and George Rados (drums), editing, erasing, re-recording, and it took us from December to March 2025 to mix it, with Thanos Kalease at Kyriazis Studios, Athens. The mastering was again by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. Dennis Morfis plays the guitar on “Nthymion” and few magic moments here in there throughout the album, and the rest of it is just the three of us, me, Aki and George with Thanos doing his magic on that SSL.
What does it emphasize that the album is released with the kind auspices of the Institute for Experimental Arts?
It felt like the right decision back then, when we first met and discussed with the people of the Institute. I had researched what the Institute does, stands for and supports and felt I belonged there. Before meeting with the Institute, I am proud to say that the album was rejected so many times, that it became obvious that I would be looking at a self-release. What does a label do, after all, since they don’t invest money in the production, that’s for granted, so what do they do? I would like to believe that a label helps, however possible, with whatever means they have, and at least they spread the word on that piece of art, provided they feel this piece of art reflects their morale and aesthetic (if not, why collaborate in the first place?). I am not new to the storyline of being led to believe that there would be a good shout-out and some consideration put into some marketing strategy of sorts, but instead I’m left alone to drown, I hope this time it’s not the case, and that again, I’m not on my own in this, instead we’re in this together. I hate promoting the album single-handedly, and I’ll let you in a little secret: besides it being too much time and money-consuming, there’s no task more boring and degrading to an artist than promoting their own work. I cannot start to explain how bad I feel for myself having to explain to people why they should invest 43 minutes to listen to my work. I feel like a prostitute in a way. Why such a persistent talk on this hateful ‘marketing’ thing, might you ask? Well, the internet might have given everyone a place to speak and be heard, but as always, capitalism makes a free market and an easy game for people with the means to it. Why lie about it? It’s not the best music that reaches our ears. It’s the music that found the way to get through to me, you, everyone, and that ‘way’ is well, money.
Why not go label-less, might you ask? Odd thing: I feel like people feel ill of artists who are homeless. I think they think that if no label trusted in this album, why should I bother listen to it, after all? The paradox here is that if an artist is already known and popular, then it’s a big round of applause for choosing to be independent. If an artist is striving to make it in this ocean of wannabe-someones, then being independent reads like a flop. So, what does it emphasize, me siding with the Institute for Experimental Arts, to answer the question? I felt this album belongs side by side with the Experimental Arts, and I hope the ‘arts’ themselves and the Institute will lend a hand, and we’ll walk side by side.
photo by @sulleym
Lia, what did you go to do in China with Mabebygrey? How was the whole experience there?
We performed at CAN festival, in Zhoushan, an island near Shanghai. Madebygrey has quite a following in China, you’d be surprised, I know we were! The Festival was amazing, everyone was amazing, and I really cannot start to explain how different everything is in China. I had sung a song by Madebygrey, ‘Trapped’, and Antonis (composer and head and heart of Madebygrey) asked me to join them to sing this song and a few more on that trip. China is an experience beyond our wildest fantasies. Let me just say that for starters, everything is very very very big, in comparison to our universe. Oh, and the food.. the food is amazing! And it’s not that far away after all, if you think about it! Took me a lot more time to travel to the US, when I did!
We would like to know where and when you will present the new album, and where will you stop when you tour “ARISTOPHOBIA NERVOSA”?
I am afraid I don’t have the stamina or assets at the moment to consider an album presentation. I will arrange something for the upcoming Fall, for sure. There’s been a lot of change in my professional life recently, plus a new member has replaced an older one in the band, and we are rehearsing our new sound at the moment, so we’ll perform when the time is right, and when we can set up a presentation as perfect as we want it to be. To be quite honest, I don’t feel very welcome here, in Athens, so I am more or less postponing it as much as I can.. Also, I am in search and in discussion with vinyl printing and distribution labels, so we can have a physical product as well, so that needs some tending, too. I am already in discussion with promoters in the countries we’ve toured in the past, and we’ll soon embark on a tour, that’s for sure. As for Greece, there’s been zero talk or invitations, so we’ll keep silent and still. Do I like it? No, I hate it. But there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m at peace with this.
What book made an impression on you recently, and what record is stuck in your turntable?
I’ve been reading books on creative writing and music production, so I won’t bother you with these, but also ‘Down Girl ‘ by Kate Manne and the album I’ve been listening to mostly lately (again) is Modular by Matt Chamberlain, Viktor Krauss and Dan Phelps.
Lia Hide, thank you very much for this conversation. The last words are on you.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to sit through this so in depth and long discussion, I thank you from the depths of my soul for taking the time to listen and to understand what I, what we do. It feels very difficult most of the time, and moments like this make it all worthwhile.
Keep up with Lia Hide:
Interview by Mike D.
