Meet Loki's Folly, Gen Z Punk Rockers Who Worked with Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner

Credit: Mika Larson

If one were to blend the music of The B-52s, The Linda Lindas, Sleater-Kinney and Sonic Youth, the concoction would likely come out as Loki's Folly.

The Minneapolis, Minn. trio is made up of Annie Kuchenmeister, singer and guitarist, and her two siblings, 17-year-old Nissa, drummer and singer, and 12-year-old Oskar, who also sings and plays bass.

Though Annie is the oldest at 22, the band's debut album "Sisu" was largely inspired by her teenage years, as recording for the record, which was released this February, began in 2017.

The 12-track offering features the track "Appease the Girl," for which the band got help from Dave Pirner on guitar, who has fronted another Minneapolis band, Soul Asylum, since 1981.

It's an autobiographical track for Loki's Folly's frontwoman.

“The song itself is a song I wrote describing the autistic meltdowns I would have in school and the lack of response or care from the adults at the school in that situation,” she explained in a press release.

The most recent song from the album to get a video is the track "Trickster," which was released in June.

“On the surface, this song is about all the 'trickster' characters we know from our favorite childhood stories like Anansi, Monkey King, Joker, and, of course, Loki,” Annie added.

As the group's name implies, their music draws inspiration from "music from movies, TV shows, books, and comic books that we were reading at the time."

“We developed this process when we first started having sleepovers in my room or [Nissa's] room, we’d have our little laptop and go on YouTube and be like, Check out this, we got to do something like this, and Check this one out," Annie told Teen Vogue's Lexi McMenamin. And Nissa responded enthusiastically when the interviewer brought up Marvel's "Loki" Disney+ series.

Via email, Sound Words Central caught up with Annie to learn more about Loki's Folly.

Ben Province: The runtime of just over two minutes on "Trickster" feels like a throwback. Are you inspired by classic punk music?

Annie Kuchenmeister: Very much so. A lot of our initial interest in music came from classic and early punk bands that have really inspired our approach to songwriting and musical style. Writing shorter songs is definitely one of the pieces that we latched onto, trying to put just the perfect amount of stuff into a song instead of adding more and more until it's too much. I think it also makes for a fun and approachable listening experience.

BP: "Appease the Girl" seems like such a personal song. What do you hope people take away from that track?

AK: "Appease the Girl" does come from a very personal place, discussing my experiences with autism in school. What I hope people can take from it is a sense of empathy and understanding. Even though the literal experience is not something everyone has gone through, I think anyone can relate to the feeling of being belittled, ostracized or taken advantage of. I hope that by connecting these feelings to my experiences, people can better see how I relate to the world.

BP: How did the collaboration with Dave Pirner come about?

AK: We actually got the chance to open for Soul Asylum at their 2018 holiday show at First Avenue here in Minneapolis. It was one of the best experiences ever and gave us such an amazing chance early on in our career. We have been in contact with the band since then, and when the opportunity to collaborate came up, we took it.

BP: What was it like working with him?

AK: He is a really awesome guy and very fun to interact and work with. We did the "Appease The Girl" collab over the pandemic, so it was also a fun opportunity to work together remotely.

BP: What's your favorite part about being in a band with your siblings?

AK: It is really fun to work with your siblings, because we have this natural dynamic and communication that works really well for things like performing. It is also special to get to share something you all love and as well as get to put stuff into the world together.

BP: Can you describe what the process was like putting an album together over the course of a few years?

AK: We put together our album over a couple of years because our approach was to take each good opportunity as it came along. This combined with the pandemic made for a long but extremely enjoyable and memorable process. Getting to work with so many truly amazing people and really fine-tuning what we were putting out made the process fun and enjoyable.