logo
‘Seeing climate change like this, it changes you': dance duo Bicep on making an album in Greenland

‘Seeing climate change like this, it changes you': dance duo Bicep on making an album in Greenland

The Guardian6 days ago
Russell glacier, at the edge of Greenland's vast ice sheet, sounds as if it's crying: moans emanate from deep within the slowly but inexorably melting ice. Andy Ferguson, one half of dance duo Bicep, walks around in its towering shadow recording these eerie sounds. 'Everyone comes back changed,' he says of Greenland. 'Seeing first-hand climate change happening like this.'
It's April 2023 and, in the wake of Bicep's second album Isles cementing them as one of the leading electronic acts globally, Ferguson has travelled to Greenland as part of a project to collaborate with Indigenous musicians and bring the momentous struggle of this region – and even the planet – into focus.
The project will take two years to come to fruition but next month sees the release of Bicep's first soundtrack and accompanying film Takkuuk, pronounced tuck-kook. It's an Inuktitut word that came from throat singing duo Silla, one of the Indigenous collaborators: 'It translates to literally 'look' but has the connotation that you're urging someone to look at something closely,' says Silla's Charlotte Qamaniq. 'The Arctic climate is changing rapidly so in the context of the project it's: 'look, the adverse effects of climate change are obvious.' But it's also: 'hey, look how cool Inuit culture is!''
I join Ferguson on this first trip along with representatives from EarthSonic, a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness about the climate crisis through art projects. Ferguson's Bicep partner Matt McBriar stays home ahead of the birth of his first child.
When we land at Kangerlussuaq airport, first opened as a US airbase in the second world war, it's -10C, bright and crisp. Ferguson is staying with our driver Evald who, on learning that Ferguson and I are Man United fans, exclaims: 'Manchester United is my religion! Old Trafford is my church!' His home has a huge Lego model of the stadium. Across the next week we see the northern lights – in Inuit myth, it's dead souls playing ball with a walrus's head – and ride dogsleds and snowmobiles, but there's a sobering tone to the beauty and adventure.
Russell glacier is a 20km journey by four-wheel drive on a rough dirt road. The ice sheet covers 80% of the country, but loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 90s due to climate change, and is the principal driver of rising sea levels. Scientists predict if the world continues on a course towards 2.5C heating it will take us beyond a tipping point for both ice sheets, resulting in a catastrophic sea level rise of 12 metres. Standing under a vast glacier that is hundreds of thousands of years old, but which could disappear within my daughters' lifetime, is discombobulating.
Next morning it's on to Sisimiut for Arctic Sounds, a showcase for music from across the Arctic region and beyond. Sisimiut is Greenland's second city, home to 5,000, and a thriving metropolis compared with Kangerlussuaq. Rock and metal are the most popular music, alongside rap and other Indigenous music and the standout acts include an incendiary performance by Greenlandic rapper Tarrak. 'Seeing Tarrak perform was so powerful,' Ferguson says, with 'everyone chanting in this language I'd never heard before. It felt punk. It's rare to see that nowadays when everything is so homogenised.'
The project is allowing Bicep to flex different musical muscles. Playing a simultaneously melancholic and euphoric style of tech-house and electronica, Bicep broke through in the mid-2010s. Their track Glue became a ubiquitous rave anthem among gen Z, and led to the success of Isles, which reached No 2 in the UK charts and earned them two Brit award nominations. Everything was rosy, but it was, in Ferguson's words, 'all sugar, no sour', so they created alter egos Chroma and Dove to show their harder, headier side. The Arctic was an opportunity to challenge themselves again.
After Ferguson returned from Greenland, the first thing Bicep did was construct a drum kit from ice samples and other field recordings of local sounds including husky chains, then created demos, 'really just chord structures we know we can write around' and sent them to the Indigenous artists. They didn't expect to get almost full songs in return, but on hearing what came back, the duo realised 'we needed to step back and not be the focal point'. A gig on a glacier had been one initial mooted idea, but the Greenland trip made it obvious such a gig would be 'tone deaf', says Ferguson. Through conversations with Indigenous artists, 'it became clear this needed to be us shining a light on them'.
At times, progress seemed suitably glacial, but eventually a collection of Indigenous artists from Greenland and the wider Arctic region recorded their contributions at Iceland Airwaves festival in Reykjavík in November 2023, where many of them were in town performing, including Tarrak, Silla, vocalist Katarina Barruk and more.
When I catch up with Ferguson and meet his Bicep-mate McBriar in late 2024, they're buzzing about the results, and by late May, I'm finally able to hear the full thing in their Shoreditch studio. From the first bars of opener Sikorsuit, featuring Greenlandic indie band Nuija, it's clear the duo have managed to pull myriad styles and dialect into a cohesive whole. 'It doesn't sound anything like us – and it doesn't sound like them,' McBriar says. 'That's what you hope to achieve from a collaboration.'
Tarrak collaboration Taarsitillugu opens with a sparse breakbeat and becomes a full-on rave banger, while on her track Dárbbuo, Barruk sings in Ume Sámi, an endangered Uralic language spoken by fewer than 20 people. 'I went in to the studio and just poured my heart out because of the tragic state the world is in,' she says, 'then Matt and Andy worked their magic.'
There was synchronicity, despite different languages. 'It shows a strong connection between us Indigenous sister and brothers,' explains Barruk, who is Swedish. 'Without me knowing takkuuk means look, I created lyrics which ask the other person to vuöjnniet, to see, so one doesn't need to feel so alone. Alone in the fight for our lands, our ways of living, our language, culture and taking care of the Earth.'
As the project developed it was clear it needed context, so Bicep asked Zak Norman, who designs their brilliant on-stage visuals, to create an immersive installation. Norman worked with Charlie Miller, a documentary film-maker who went on the original Greenland trip, on a film that introduces the artists and explores the displacement and marginalisation of their communities, cultures and language. Norman used adapted infrared cameras to give the footage otherworldly pink and purple hues, reminiscent of Richard Mosse's 2013 video artwork The Enclave. The film is a series of vignettes for each track, and it certainly deepens the music, with eerie landscapes layered with interviews. The work will premiere on the giant wraparound screens at London's Outernet next month, before touring venues and festivals across the world.
The project has taken on yet another hue in the wake of Donald Trump's recent expansionist proclamations. 'It's a circus,' says Tarrak. 'The first time Trump asked to buy Greenland [during his first. term as president] we took it as a joke. Now I can see there's some seriousness – but it's still just weird, in 2025, to try and buy a country. I know they're more interested in what's under the ground than the people, but we have to be smart about it as Greenlanders, stick together and be aware of people trying to divide us.'
Bicep experienced their own existential crisis when McBriar had to have surgery for a large tumour on his brain's pituitary gland last year, from which he's thankfully made a good recovery. They're now deep into their third album proper, though it won't see daylight from their basement studio for at least another year. 'We wrote [Isles] pre-pandemic so it's a complete different world now. With Chroma we wanted to get that aggression out and cleanse ourselves of what we wanted to do, just straight club tracks. Now I think we're coming full circle.'
How will you judge the success of Takkuuk, I ask. 'You can't quantify awareness,' says Ferguson. 'If it starts people on a journey to learn more about Greenland then it's achieved something.
'It's easy to switch off with climate change, I switch off myself sometimes,' he continues. 'But if you start telling the story in different ways, different narratives, ways people can visualise it, at least it's a start. Because for the next generation it's going to be the focal part of their life.'
Takkuuk premieres at Outernet, London, 3 July, then tours. The soundtrack Takkuuk is released by Ninja Tune on 25 July
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Dhaka builds for a wetter future
Dhaka builds for a wetter future

The Guardian

time8 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Dhaka builds for a wetter future

With nearly 20% of its landmass expected to be underwater by mid-century, Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on Earth. But new buildings and public spaces across the capital city of Dhaka are (sometimes literally) rising to meet the challenges of a hotter, wetter future. Brac University's new campus, seen here, opened in central Dhaka in 2024 Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Coined the 'floating university', Brac sits atop a bio-retention pond, which captures and treats storm runoff Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian The campus's lush lower levels are integrated with surrounded neighborhoods to offer cool public gathering spaces Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Planted facades and passive design reduce the buildings' cooling needs, with green surfaces adding up to nearly 127% of the site area Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Solar panels on Brac's upper gardens produce electricity and provide rooftop shade. Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Designed by the Singapore-based firm Woha, the 13-story campus has received accolades for its regenerative plans Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian The university, first opened in 2001 on another site, has nearly 20,000 students Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian The design firm of local architect Rafiq Azam has designed some 20 climate-resilient parks across Dhaka, such as the Gulshan Society Kids Zone Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Like Brac University, many of Azam's parks and playgrounds sit atop trenches that collect and store rainwater, which is then filtered and pumped to community taps Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Gulshan Society Kids Zone Park sits within the larger Gulshan Society Lake Park Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian On the north-western outskirts of Dhaka, the Zebun Nessa mosque offers a cool respite for the area's garment workers Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Designed by Dhaka-based Studio Morphogenesis, the structures are elevated to deter overflow from monsoons Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian The mosque's perforated walls provide ventilation to keep the building's interior cool. The soft pink color was created by mixing pink pigments into the concrete Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Greenery, which contrasts with the mosque's industrial surroundings, helps to cool the space and absorb rainwater Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian Wong Mun Summ, lead architect of the new Brac University campus, has said he hopes the building's climate-smart design will be 'replicated and scaled up' in other cities around the globe Photograph: Anik Rahman/Guardian

Toxic metals found in UK peatlands could pose health risk
Toxic metals found in UK peatlands could pose health risk

BBC News

timea day ago

  • BBC News

Toxic metals found in UK peatlands could pose health risk

"Cutting edge" research by a team at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) has found toxic heavy metals stored in peatlands across the say wildfires - and the effects of climate change - could see decades' worth of pollutants like lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium, released into our water scientists say the findings make re-wetting and restoring peatlands even more vital, to protect environmental and human are well-known carbon sinks, locking away greenhouse gases in their watery depths. They have also been absorbing the industrial pollution that humans have been generating for two centuries. The QUB team, led by Professor Graeme Swindles, has been examining cores from across the UK, Ireland and further afield, as part of a global study with many other pollution has even been found in samples from the remote Northern Arctic."It's quite staggering to find such high levels in our peatlands that you think are these incredibly pristine places in many ways," said Prof Swindles."But no - they have been affected by our pollution." PhD student Ellie Purdy "jumped" at the chance to work on the project."It's basically just about how what we're doing is affecting the environment."And even though these contaminants were once stored in these peatlands they're now being released under climate warming," she said it is a cause of concern for the future. She has been looking specifically at cores from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Finding heavy metal contamination in "an extremely remote area with little civilisation around", it has been "eye-opening" for her."It just shows how connected we are throughout the globe," she said. Peatlands cover around 12% of Northern Ireland. In good condition, they form new peat at a rate of just 1mm a more than 80% of them are in a poor or degraded state, largely due to burning or being drained for peat in the QUB labs evaluate how a changing climate might affect Richard Fewster has focused on the potential impact of three likely scenarios - a warming climate, wildfires and summer all three affect how peat behaves, burning has potentially the greatest impact. He said: "We're seeing that burning actually mobilises some of the metals within the peatland much more rapidly, in a sort of a 'big pulse' event early on in the experiment that we don't see in cores that are left intact.""So one of the really early findings that we have is that protecting our systems in a wet, stable, intact condition is really important for locking these peat metals, these pollutants, away in our peatlands and preventing them from being released," Dr Fewster said.A long-awaited peatlands strategy from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs requires Executive draft Climate Action Plan says Northern Ireland "will have to dramatically increase its annual peatland restoration activity" to meet Climate Change Committee recommendations of restoring 10,000 hectares by 2027. At Garry Bog near Ballymoney in County Antrim, more than 3,000 dams have been created to block drains and raise the water table back peat here runs to a depth of at least nine metres, which means it has been forming for more than 9,000 years and sequestering carbon for all that Devenney from Ulster Wildlife has been leading the restoration work at the said peatlands are our most significant, most impactful, terrestrial carbon sinks."So the fact that we have 12% cover in Northern Ireland of peatlands - deep peat in a lot of cases that's greater than 50 centimetres - there's a huge scope of work that can be done."Northern Ireland has a big part to play in tackling climate change," Mr Devenney Swindles said the message from the work of his team in the lab at QUB could not be starker."It's really clear we need to ensure these peatlands are kept wet. We need to restore them, rehabilitate them, block drains."And we need to stop burning peatlands," he said.

Royal Navy's HMS Protector gets Freedom of the City of Cambridge
Royal Navy's HMS Protector gets Freedom of the City of Cambridge

BBC News

timea day ago

  • BBC News

Royal Navy's HMS Protector gets Freedom of the City of Cambridge

A Royal Navy ship has been given a Freedom of the City honour by a city that is about 50 miles from the nearest bit of coast. HMS Protector was given the award by Cambridge City Council at the city's military fair last vessel, an ice patrol ship usually based in Antarctica, has been recognised for its ongoing contributions to researching climate change and works with two research organisations from Cambridge, the council said. Dinah Pounds, Labour councillor who presented the award, said: "We are very grateful for their work and contributions to tackling climate change." Working in the Antarctic, the ship has supported scientific research, wildlife mapping, researching changing climate and the continent's shifting waters. This work is carried out by the Scott Polar Research Institute and the British Antarctic Survey – both based in added: "We declared a climate change emergency in 2019, and lot of work has gone into making Cambridge more climate resilient."This is a wonderful way to show support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community."The Freedom of the City parade at Parker's Piece included people from HMS Protector, armed forces veterans and cadets. Capt Tom Weaver said he looked "forward to strengthening the relationship" between the city and the ship while they continued their "research into the impacts of climate change and human activity" on the south pole last awarded Freedom of the City to the Hungarian city of Szeged in 2011. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store