In the last interview that Lander Arretxea gave to Napoka Iria in ARGIA, he said: “It will be the first time I act alone, against myself and myself.”

For better and for worse. You have to learn to live with yourself. When you're OK, you can be OK, but when you're not, you have to know how to measure forcefully and not do it against yourself. When you decide, you know you'll have better and worse days and the option was to create a nice environment. At least I am clear. Each one of us suffices with ourselves so that the others do not have a burden!

That's why you searched for the group?

I've tried to get good musicians, but also good friends. I didn't know Lutxo so much [Neira], but I knew that Joseba was with him and that he's a noble guy, and Ibai [Gogortza], Ilargi and Joseba from before knew them and they're also good musicians. It’s a big jump to do it alone, and everything has to help: no power relations within the group, take care of oneself… For example, when we are going to try, I like to be half an hour talking to know how the next one is before we start. Otherwise, you can see in the energies, who is weak, who is happy...

“Words in the background” (Boldly); “Do not hold the inner cries. Be attentive to what they say. Of lying little” (Do not stand). What role do your lyrics play in the songs?

My experiences are collected on the album, but since they are separated in time, there is a difference. The elders talk about impotence, that I have no value. For many the letters are dark, but I don't see them that way, because I don't see darkness that doesn't have light. I don't stay in what's bad. In Biziraun, for example, I begin to say how the past diffuses, but I conclude by saying that if you have suffered so much pain, you will also be able to spend so much and you have to know how to relate.

“No boldness, no fear” (No boldness). We've sung a lot so we don't get scared, but this song talks about the opposite. And it's very daring to admit that.

I can't lie, that's how I was. I didn't feel brave, and, period, sometimes I felt better to accept it. If not, we are always afraid of change and what will come. It is pessimistic, but I wanted to add a point of light with the last sentence: “You’ll keep going like this until you start looking inwards.”

I had a little bit of a vertigo to open the record with this song, thinking it was very pessimistic. But I think it's been very strong. In addition, this song grows gradually, the percussion, the ebows, the battery -- and the other voice is added, as if it were a conversation of two inner voices.

“The reflection of the past does not let me see” (Biziraun). Obligatory question, what place does Napoka Iria occupy on this album? It is clear that it appears at times.

Yes, of course. I do not want to break with anything. The songs have had another direction, but I come from where I come from at the base, and Napoka has had a great place in my life. I am very happy with everything that has happened, to finish and to start again. Napoka Iria is a good fingerprint in the MICE.

The adaptations have the cosmic touch of Joseba Baleztena. What has the creative process been like?

At first I just made songs, and that's where we've been adapting everything. Joseba has done a great job in producing the album and has given each song a course or another. It's very multifaceted, from rock to intimidating moments. Sometimes it’s been very close to the initial idea, sometimes we’ve gone a long way… I would say the songs have grown a lot. We've played a lot in creating atmospheres. Effects on voices, distortions in the battery, background sounds -- we've intentionally searched for those cosmic sounds.

“You can never be normal” (Río Laba). Is that what you're looking for in music?

I've always tried to do something different. They also asked me if I felt Martian. But then I don't know if I've been so weird. I always try to stay at the service of the song.

“The two legs can’t be further down in the mud, I’m going over here” (Holding back). The comparison between the Basque scene and the mud has been used frequently. How do you see the situation?

There are a lot of people who are doing a good job and it seems that nobody finds out, while those who are successful are formulas that are repeated many times. There are many impersonal and plasticized groups that do the same thing, and I've found very few authentic things. We would need musical ecology.

There are over 10,000 groups that have raised a stone. It can be the effect of new technologies, it's easier to pull the record out: with its pros and cons. But the increase in quantity does not mean an increase in quality.

Joseba said to me: there's a lot of music going on, but we hear little. And you can see it in the compositions. That's what's missing, hear what's going on. Otherwise I do not understand the situation in which it finds itself.

Lide Hernando (Liher) once told me that he wouldn't be encouraged to do what he does until he saw you. Although the debate of the women concerned is difficult, it is necessary.

Oh, yeah? I am very glad. I have also been inspired by Anari, PJ Harvey or Alanis Morrisette, for example, but also by men. Although we hate the label of “female musician”, we are always women and an example. And that's right, there have to be benchmarks.

In any case, the groups of girls must be programmed even to recover from the disadvantages. The boys have acquired the public space and reference space. In addition to the organizers to put women on the stage, we have to change it: not giving so much importance to what they are going to say. Let them say what they say.

“What must be incinerated to create a people?” (With the intention of arriving earlier).

There are several musicians for non-musical purposes. First. But rather than incinerating, we have to protect what's there. There are many committed creators, also organizers or key rooms, such as gaztetxes. And you have to take good care of all that treasure: riches are in the corners and airway.