“Sometimes I get problems that are hard to solve What’s your story?
That’s my opinion
Questions and the answers can take very long
Here’s a story
What’s your opinion?”

– The Knife, “Full of Fire”

One night during the making of this issue, Karin Dreijer Andersson’s lyrics for the Knife’s comeback single wormed their way into my brain and took root. in today’s world, when everyone is desperate for their story to be heard, for people to follow them – who do you listen to? The noise can be deafening.

Sometimes you need to strip everything back to its essence to find the most rewarding narratives. Aside from Hannah Lack’s exquisitely written cover story on ethereal young irish actress Saoirse Ronan , my favourite feature of the issue is by Dean Bein. Taking time out from running his True Panther Sounds label in New York, he travelled deep into the heart of Pretoria’s gangland to spend a few days living with DJ Spoko, a producer reinventing South African house music with the most basic of equipment. What Dean emerged with was an unaffected, fly-on-the-wall document of real township life, including an uncomfortably close encounter with a gun-wielding gangster. it’s an essential read, as is Kate Lawson’s in-depth interview with Jean Paul Gaultier and Karen Orton’s Q&A with arms-treaty activist Paul Conroy, who talks about putting his life on the line to photograph the horrors of the Syrian conflict. 

Elsewhere, Rick Rubin and Dave Grohl trade tales of analogue anarchy; Harmony Korine ups the rawness with some Polaroids and sketches of his favourite gruesome twosome, the ATL twins; and Korine’s original muse, Chloë Sevigny, models for one of our “fashion’s new puritans” shoots alongside a twisted denim story with supermodel Kasia Struss, shot by Josh Olins and styled by Robbie Spencer. Further into fashion, there is a mug-shots inspired portrait story featuring Jessica Stam, Hanne Gaby Odiele and new hot face of the season Amanda Murphy, shot by Cass Bird and styled by Karen Langley, with hair by New York hair legend Bob Recine.

They’re our stories. What’s your opinion? Tweet us @DazedMagazine.

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