Soraya Silene is the first to admit the story behind her synth-pop electronic music project IONNA is a bit unconventional.
“IONNA is basically an alter ego of me as a cyborg,” she explains. “It’s kind of like I’m being built like in ‘Ghost in the Shell’ or ‘Frankenstein’ or something like that. I’m a cyborg who’s maybe more stoic and has less of an emotional feeling, but at the same time, I’m falling in love with a human.”
Her first single “Supernatural,” released at the end of January, begins the tale of her transformation into something more. In the story, IONNA goes on a date with a human to a cyber lounge and after a car accident, the human needs to also become a cyborg to stay alive. According to Silene, the song is about the confusing experience of what the feeling of falling in love means to someone who doesn’t understand emotions in general, and asking that person to meet them in this higher—or supernatural place—they are currently in.
“I feel a little crazy talking about all this as if it’s completely real,” she laughs. “But it obviously deals with real things we all experience even though the story surrounding it is a bit out there.”
IONNA’s music is full of influences from the likes of artists such as Kate Bush, The Cure, and St. Vincent, with a danceable and ambient sound landscape. Silene is working with producer Ross Wright and mixer/master Aleksi Godard on a full album, also titled “Supernatural,” that chronicles the full IONNA journey. One song is planned for every month until the album’s full release in September. Her next single, “Calling to a Star,” is out Feb. 28, followed by a music video for “Supernatural” that uses digital animation of the IONNA character purely created by Unreal Engine, a 3D computer graphics game engine, first used in video game creation; it has since grown in popularity through film and television.
“It features an avatar of me is singing in a cyber jazz club to the human I’m falling in love with,” Silene says. “I did body mapping and motion capture for it, and I’m really excited for that to be out.”
Silene began her career releasing music that was mostly Americana and rock focused, but in 2019, she reinvented her style into a more ambient pop sound after learning how to self-produce a record, which paved the way for her new persona.
“[Creating IONNA] allowed me to really build out what my sonic interests were both musically and lyrically,” she says. “What’s so great about creating this narrative for me is that I can talk about more difficult things in a heightened way. I feel like when you put these themes in a different world or landscape, you can better deal with the emotions you’re experiencing with that layer on it. You can listen to this song and deal with this emotion of, say, the complications of connecting with someone, in a more playful and funny way, but still experience it. I like to call it my ‘dance through the pain’ music.”
Relocating back to Richmond after a stint in New York, Silene feels the local music scene has become more accepting of alternative genres.
“It’s so much different now than it was 10 years ago,” she says. “I think there’s more of an active community in these genres and a lot more people who want to work on things that don’t fit one type of mold. I feel that in Richmond, if you have a really strong and interesting idea, people will want to collaborate with you and participate as long as you’re passionate about it.”
Silene says she likes having the IONNA alter ego be its own thing and not tied to her real life, stating that what draws people to her music is the story and characters it includes.
“I’m really interested in keeping the music that I put out as this persona separated from reality,” she says. “The more we get in the world of having online avatars, the more we have this perceived version of ourselves. I like having IONNA as this separate thing and the music be what the audience needs as much as possible and less on the real world.”
IONNA will be performing at The Camel on Saturday, March 15 with Landon Elliott, Trapcry, and Zach Benson. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
