Name: Sirens of Lesbos
Members: Jasmina Serag, Nabyla Serag, Melvyn Buss, Arci Friede
Interviewee: Arci Friede (approved by Jasmina and Nabyla)
Nationality: Swiss
Current release: Sirens of Lesbos's Peace is out now.

If you enjoyed this Sirens of Lesbos interview and would like to stay up to date with the band and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and twitter. We also have an in-depth 15 Questions Sirens of Lesbos interview if you want to dive deeper into their thoughts on music.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Inspiration can come from anywhere, a book, the news, a conversation with a stranger, a therapy session, other music. We are very open to a wide range of input.

Sometimes it's very simple: we heard “Sweet Harmony” by The Beloved on the radio …



… and then one morning we made a new version with new verses. It was fun, it wasn't until later that we decided that the song would be on the album and even become the first single.
 


For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

We do so-called prototyping, where we simply produce as many demo beats and loops as possible, sometimes entire instrumentals. Then we do a selection process. Everyone from the band can award points, the sketches with the most points make it into the process.

There is also a selection process for the texts, but it is more on the go. We only plan what is necessary and leave as much space as possible for spontaneous creation and discussion.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

No, it happens where it happens. And in the studio we have processes that are always similar, but this is for functional reasons, they are not a prerequisite for our creativity.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

There are no fixed rituals. Things come to us when they (have to) come to us.

There was a time when some of us experimented with mind-altering substances, but that is over, at least for now. But these experiences have made us more receptive in the long term.

And now we're more pragmatic – everything we write doesn't always have to make 100% sense, sometimes it's just a vibe that a string of words creates, like with “Bowie” (feat. Erick The Architect).



What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

The first line often comes to you quickly and spontaneously. You pick up something from somewhere, play with it and come up with a formulation that sounds good and interesting enough. Then, in the euphoria, you decide to make more of it.

Since our texts in the past were often created without music, i.e. were designed more as poems and then adapted, finishing them was often strenuous.

Now we just write scraps, listen to demos and see what fits together well. And only when we have a match, so to speak, do we finish writing the lyrics.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

In our lyrical aesthetics lyrics should be profound and simple at the same time, at best they should be peppered with one or two words that make you sit up and take notice because they do not exist in everyday language or are actually hardly known.

And of course the sequence of words should sound nice and create a better whole with the music.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

Everything exists as an idea. The question is actually who discovers an idea, when and for what. And how is the idea put into practice, what tangible, visible and/or audible work results from it. How inspiring, entertaining and/or helpful is this work to people.
 
From your experience, are there things you're doing differently than most or many other artists when it comes to writing music?

We are indeed a democracy. Everyone brings ideas and designs to the table, but the final work is created in a group dynamic where negotiation has to take place.

We don't have a set process. Sometimes a piece begins with a loop, sometimes with a text fragment, sometimes we hear music and say: we want to do a song like this too.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

In the beginning you want to maintain control, forge every detail. But that doesn't work for long, only when you open up and let certain things happen does true art emerge.

It sounds kind of pathetic, but that's how it is for us.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Yes. Sometimes this process creates a whole new song, sometimes a side note that leads to a new song months later, like with “8 Billion” (feat. Bootsy Colllins) – the hook is a byproduct of another song.



You shouldn't take yourself so seriously when writing – things turn out differently anyway. We've never written a song and then executed it exactly like that. Never.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Sometimes it's spiritual. Sometimes, especially when finishing lyrics, it's just strenuous mental work.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

That is very different. Some works need to be left alone and worked on again later. “Like Some Dream” feat. JID took us almost a year to finish.



Others are simply unquestionably good and need to be out as quickly as possible.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

We mix our songs ourselves. The mix is incredibly important for the vibe of a song. The mix is not a purely technical matter, the mix is another level of communication for the song.

When it comes to mastering, we have been relying on a neighboring studio for years, where we can be there and make corrections until we are satisfied.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

There are four of us in the studio and we work with other producers and artists.

We are never all together empty or uninspired, there is always someone who has an idea and is motivated to take the lead. This helps when you have to function like a machine in this merciless industry.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

It's no different. We have decided on music as an occupation and means of expression. Why? No idea. It just feels good and right.

And we're not just musicians. We have other lives where we draw with our children, where we play records in a bar, where we cook for our friends – we take these things just as seriously as Sirens Of Lesbos.