Photo Credit: Copperqueen Records
What sounds would you want to listen to when the world hits its expiration date? If the thought never crossed your mind, think no more because SIRA* has you covered with her 2024 release, ‘Songs for the End of the World,’ out now. We talked not only about the new record, but also about reuniting with loved ones, potential A24 gems, and more in this back-and-forth exchange.
Kendra: By the age of four, you were enamored with music and creating it, but along the way, you also got into film and visual arts. With Songs for the End of the World being your debut LP, what made you focus on your other creative endeavors in the years prior, and what finally pushed you towards taking this musical route now?
SIRA*: I would say that music became really hard for me in my early twenties. I found being a young woman in the scene in London at that time confusing. I wasn’t sure where I really belonged socially or sometimes even musically. I knew I was a good songwriter, but I wasn’t a great guitar player and I felt that impacted my ability to compose. I neglected my piano playing, my music theory was not up to scratch. I could never make peace with my singing voice. I was just a choir girl; a lowly alto.
So yes music just got very hard and I couldn’t quite find my place in the world through it. It released me emotionally in some ways but actually brought up a lot of other troubles that I wasn’t able to deal with at the time. I had other options though and I decided to focus on journalism and film-making. I worked at the BBC as a producer, presenter, and researcher. That felt like a more comfortable environment for me socially, emotionally, and intellectually. The thing that pushed me back into music was feeling burned out by the art world and also the death of my mother which was the final straw for me. My mother was the love of my life and we as a family had suffered so much it was almost unbearable. Music has helped me with my grieving process and makes me feel whole again. Joyful even.
Kendra: The album will have a solid nine tracks but one you spoke of, “Homecoming: Afterlife,” really touched part of my heart because having lost so much of your family, sans your twin sister – you could relish in the pain, you’ve chosen to celebrate the joy of reuniting with them one day. Did that acceptance come naturally, or did writing about it in song help?
SIRA*: Oh, I am so glad it touched you in this way. It is going to live on vinyl and I will release it as a bonus track. (There is already another version of the “Homecoming” track on this album with Mark de Clive-Lowe playing on it). But yes, it is a moving track. And yes, I do think about reuniting. The song comes in part from this conversation I had with a reader when I was in a lot of pain about my mother. She described how she saw how happy and relieved my mother was to see everyone. Her sons, grandson, sisters, parents, friends, husband. Too many people were on the other side for her I think. And it gave me so much peace to imagine how happy and released her spirit must have felt. She suffered a lot in this world. And yes, when my own time comes I love the idea of meeting everyone again even though we are not of the flesh at that point. But still, it’s a comforting idea.
Kendra: As for “Cosmic Shebeen” it has this very distinct feel to it. It feels like a song that would play in a thriller or horror movie. However, being a filmmaker – if you had to use it and the rest of the album in a movie, what genre do you feel the album would vibe with best?
SIRA*: Interesting question. Yeah “Cosmic Shebeen,” I always imagined illustrating a nighttime scene involving fast cars somehow. It has that sexy pulse and that alarm-like, otherworldly oja flute motif. One of my tracks “I Dream of Deluge” is a more choral piece with a church organ that I think is good for an A24-style horror movie or maybe ‘House of the Dragon’ type series. I think all the songs have a very distinct character but I hope all still feel very SIRA*. I think they could be used in a multitude of movies. But I enjoy the idea of more sci-fi, thrillers, and anything A24 to be honest.
Kendra: “Cosmic Shebeen” is built on survival and building community, two things we often see in TV shows and movies about apocalyptic times, which was a big inspiration for the album. However, outside of the end of times, have you always aimed to have a musical community where you called home be it New York City, LA, or Nigeria?
SIRA*: I have longed for a musical community, but never ever had one. It is one of the great sadnesses of my life. I know a lot of musicians and a few DJs but I have never had a real in-person, real-life musical community. I always feel like I am skulking around the edges, dipping in from time to time to ask people to play on my record. I envy those who are in bands or are in a community somehow.
Eastside LA, like around Highland Park, you see a lot of musicians that live there that have that collaborative vibe which I think is really special. I feel like an orphan in the wind and rain pressing my face at the window as the ruddy-cheeked musicians make merry together by the fire in the tavern.
LOL! OK to be fair to myself I have always got other things going on in art, film, or food. So that prevents me from really throwing myself into building community. But honestly, I am a bit of a hermit. But through this record, I have met amazing musicians and mixing engineers (mostly – but not exclusively – via Zoom) in New York, LA, Nigeria, London, and Tokyo. I have made new friends and I will absolutely work with many of them again. So watch this space. I may yet make it into the tavern…
Kendra: You once said, “Pop music isn’t speaking to the moment, it’s just going around in circles.” I can agree with that to a degree because sometimes it all feels too trendy and cyclical. Do you think the addition of branding and social media has made artists feel even more like products and less like artists, and that is what’s impacting everlasting goodness in music?
SIRA*: I think social media is a blessing and a curse. We can now do our own promotion but it is a HELL of a job. It takes up SO much time. It’s just a lot. I have not managed to harness it. I just don’t have the time. But this is not an excuse. I think it is imperative to find a way to leverage it. But I think the rules have and are changing. And for me, I am doing things backwards.
I am probably going to start investing time in social media after the release and in the coming year. I’ve been working on the music and videos right up until the release date so I just don’t have time for social media strategizing. But I also don’t see why it all has to happen before the release date anyway. I have something to say and the temporality of my music and the place it comes from is not of this world. I just think that you should do what you can when you can. And throw the rule book out. Everything is crumbling around us anyway so just do what feels right for you. You have a chance to create the new rules.
Kendra: Time for a side note – With us entering the fall months, I’d love for you to share a song that puts you in an Autumn state of mind…
SIRA*: “Autumn in New York” sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. I was going to say Goldfrapp’s Felt Mountain album, but that is straight-up winter I realize. So I’ll go with Ella and Louis!
Kendra: Lastly, with Songs for the End of the World out now – what can fans be on the lookout for as we inch closer to 2025?
SIRA*: More videos. One of my songs “Time Is Not Enough” has a really special music video attached to it. It’s the first ever animation that I made with a friend of mine David Lisser. It’s about my mother’s journey to heaven. It’s really moving. I’m also going to be in Tokyo shooting a short film about the idea of “home” with Mark de Clive-Lowe to accompany the “Homecoming” single that he played on for me.
Also, I have developed a performance lecture called The Joy Apocalypse which combines talking about the idea of apocalypse with listening to tracks on the album. The LA one will happen on the 29th of September and the London one will happen on the 17th of October. I am also planning a Tokyo outing. This performance lecture/listening party is something that I feel comfortable offering within an art world context and it is my own way of sharing the album in lieu of doing a tour where I play the songs live with a band.
I don’t have those resources and that is not currently my setup. But I want to conjure this space and time where we get to think through these big, difficult, often unspoken worries about things like climate apocalypse, political upheaval, and economic collapse together. I want us to dance through the difficulty. To unburden our fears around systemic change. Music is a beautiful way to bring people together and work through these things on a vibrational level and in community.