December has always been one of my least favourite months ever since I was a child, the weathers cold, the days are shorter, Santa Claus never comes to town and I’ve had my fair share of break ups in that particular month. However, last December Spotify’s powerful algorithm blessed me with an early Christmas gift — it introduced me to the rising Scottish-Irish duo SIIGHTS. The song that caught my attention was “Tell Me Lies”, although being an emotionally-driven song, there’s this warmth to it which has the ability to make you resilient despite your circumstances.
Their music has been a breath of fresh air, especially for someone who tends to listen to dark and moody songs with complex lyricism built over cinematic and murky productions. So edgy. Listening to SIIGHTS felt as though as I had found light at the end of a tunnel. Almost a year later, I had the opportunity to have a brief conversation with both Toni and Mia on the day of their new single release “Shoulda Been” — another lush single. If you close your eyes whilst listening to it, you’ll feel like you’re in Los Angeles, California. Try it.
Read our conversation below:
Hey guys, how’s it going?
Hey, we’re really good thanks!
Nice! How did you two meet?
We were introduced by a mutual friend in a writing session whilst Mia was still on tour with Hozier. We clicked straight away, and started writing together, originally for other artists.
Amazing. Is there a meaning behind your name SIIGHTS?
Yes 100%, we knew we wanted our band name to represent something similar to how we think. Foresight and forward thinking/vision was always something that was important to us, so after a couple days of back and forth we finally decided on SIIGHTS.
What other names did you want the duo to be called?
When we worked together as writers first, we were going by ‘The Secret’ as a sudo name!
Haha! You’re both representing two countries — Scotland and Ireland. Are there any challenges when it comes to say for instance: rehearsing, meeting up for planning and so on?
You’d think it would be tough but when we decided to start SIIGHTS we wanted to really commit timing wise to it so we travel when we need to and are lucky enough Mia has her own studio as she is also a producer/engineer so we’re super lucky for that.
Sweet. It’s been a while since we’ve heard new music from you, what have you guys been up to?
It has indeed, since releasing ‘Tell Me Lies’ in December, we decided it was the right time to go into the studio to create our debut EP. So we disappeared into the studio to write and produce the EP, and at the same time have still been writing for other artists and working on some exciting collaborations. We’re really hands on with every part of SIIGHTS so naturally there are moments where we need to disappear and focus on creating although we’re never gone too long. We did release a few collaborations this year with some great artists whilst we prep’d the EP. It really blew us away receiving support from Elton John and The Chainsmokers on them, what a cool year its been for us. We’re really excited to share what comes next.
That’s amazing and inspiring at the same time. Your new single “Shoulda Been” sounds great by the way. Talk us through the creative process.
Toni:
Thank you, every song comes about differently although almost always they begin on either guitar or piano. We had just finished a really long day in the studio and Mia started writing it on acoustic guitar and when I heard it we both just felt it was the right fit to be the first song on the EP.
What message are you guys trying to convey on this song?
Mia:
It’s about wondering what could have been with someone if things had worked out differently. Its about someone you had a strong connection with but the relationship didn’t work out for whatever reason. I guess its about exploring that thought — I think people grow and change all the time so its also about wondering if you’d done things differently knowing what you know now, what could have happened.
It’s the first single taken from your upcoming debut EP. What sort of sounds can we expect on the project?
It is! We’re so excited to share what comes next with you. Since starting SIIGHTS we released a couple of singles, and during that time we feel we have really grown and developed our sound to create an EP that we’re both really proud of, so what you hear next from us is really where we hear ourselves as an artist and its a really exciting time for us to put that across in our debut EP. It’s electronic pop music with organic instruments, similar to Chelsea Cutler or Lauv.
Do you have any idea when the EP will be released?
Yes! The full body of work will be released early 2020. We may have some other collaborations on route before then too.
What else can we expect from you in the next months leading up to 2020?
A lot of new music, collaborations, some live shows and and some surprises also!
Sounds exciting! Do you have any upcoming gigs?
As we start releasing this new music we will definitely be announcing some live stuff. Plans are in the works and we’ll have news online soon. Keep an eye on our socials.
Will do! If you were given an opportunity to work with any current artist or producer, who would it be and why?
We’d love to collaborate with fellow Scottish legend Calvin Harris, DJ Snake and Felix Snow. It’s so hard to narrow down as there are so many artists we’d love to collaborate with but definitely Lauv, Halsey or Benny Blanco.
What artists are you currently listening to?
We made a playlist of music we’re listening to right now which actually sits in the same space as where we see ourselves going. Its called A MOOD.
If you’re reading this, make sure you follow that playlist! Your songs are commercially appealing and radio-friendly, do you guys ever dream of mainstream success one day?
Thanks! To get our music to as many people as possible and tour the world is the ultimate goal. We’re absolutely loving the journey so far and are ready for wherever that takes us. We’re just so grateful for the support we’ve received so far and are excited for the future!
Listen to new single “Shoulda Been” below:
Connect with SIIGHTS
