North London duo IDER first came on the scene in April, stirring things up with their R&B inspired track, “Sorry”. They made such an impression that as soon as the track was live on SoundCloud, IDER got a call from BBC Radio 1’s Phil Taggart, who then went on to plug the pair on his show as one of his Future Firsts. Their follow-up single “Pulse” was released in June and now has almost 500,000 streams on Spotify. Their two tracks combined have almost 600,000 plays between them on Spotify and have won them fans in Shura and at Radio 1.

Megan and Lily met in university and instantly clicked, and they’ve been creating music together ever since. The twosome told us that the name IDER is the result of a little browse through a book about ducks (casual), where they stumbled upon the ‘Eider’ duck. They dropped the ‘e’ (an existing skiwear brand already took the name Eider) and consequently became the IDER we all know and love today. The two’s musical process is quite organic; the pair usually start out with a gool old jam sesh. After playing around for a while, they’ll start to hear the beginnings of a melody, and eventually, a song will start to form. Their music has led them to be compared to the likes of London Grammar and FKA Twigs. Megan and Lily are also no strangers to live shows, having done numerous shows including supporting Tegan and Sara at KOKO. They have even more shows coming up in the near future, including performing with Connor Youngblood at Birthdays on October 27th, and then in January at The Line of Best Fit’s Five Day Forecast event.

And now, after keeping quite a low profile to focus on writing and recording, the girls are back with their third original track, the Eastern influenced “King Ruby”. The song is an ode to their friend who was injured in an accident in India last year, bursting with an upbeat pop sound and heavenly Eastern melodies. They elaborate on the very personal inspiration of the song, explaining that, “King Ruby is about a friend of ours who was involved in an accident in India at the end of last year. Her courage and positivity throughout her recovery inspired this song. She is a remarkable human being who has taught us the power in choosing strength.”

How would you describe your sound to us?

We would say it’s honest and personal, and the rest is constantly evolving.

How did you two meet? What made you decide to go into music together?

We met at uni and became really good mates. We’ve been writing music together since we met and we’ve always had loads of natural chemistry. So, it was a pretty easy decision to put our backs into it and work hard at developing this project.

What’s the story behind your name IDER?

One day Lily was browsing through a book about ducks (as you do) and decided that the ‘eider’ duck was pretty cool. We had to take the ‘e’ off the front to avoid having the same spelling as a popular skiwear brand. IDER was born. In hindsight it’s a bit ridiculous, but that’s the truth.

What’s the inspiration behind the name of your track “King Ruby?”

It’s about a good friend of ours; she’s a King.

How would you describe the sound of this track?

It’s uplifting and celebratory. It has an upbeat energy, but with a serious undertone and a lot of meaning. It’s a very personal song.

Talk us through your creative process when making music?

We’re very open with each other and we chat about everything which often starts the writing process. Then generally we’ll pick up instruments and start playing together with no agenda whatsoever and somewhere amongst the noise comes melodies and lyrics.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

The Beatles, Nina Simone, Bruce Springsteen

Got any exciting things planned for the future?

We have a gig on the 27th September at Birthdays in Dalston supporting Conner Youngblood. There will be more exciting announcements to come…