The Siren
In this article, we introduce an artist who is responsible for every aspect of his own work, from composition and production to writing and performance. He goes by the name of The Siren, and he hails from Los Angeles/Ukraine.
He describes his musical creations as “soundtracks for the apocalypse”. The most recent single, “The Whole World Has Gone Insane”, offers a glimpse into the depths of the current crisis and is the first piece from his upcoming artistic collection, entitled the “1984” album. It is a truthful and dramatic account of war and love. The “1984” visual album, consisting of 24 songs, reveals new animated videos every other full moon, taking the listener on a cinematic journey.
You can learn more about the artist, the album, and other topics in the subsequent interview, for which The Siren has kindly spared some time for us.
Who is The Siren as a person behind the artist, and what or who sparked your interest in music?
I am just someone that hears things in my head and enjoys creating them in reality. Feeling things and transmuting darkness into light. If I feel upset about something, I can write it out in music and lyrics and turn that negative thing into beautiful art. Then I feel better. Then I am glad that I went through that darkness, because it made me create this light.
What are the main influences on your musical style?
I grew up with all influences around me. My neighborhood friends and cousins all listened to hip hop, so I started free-styling young and my dad was a guitarist in 80s rock scene so at home I had access to play with his guitars or little keyboards and going to his band practices or shows. Later headed multiple music projects in rock, metal, hiphop, industrial, and electronic.
Your track, “The Whole World Has Gone Insane”, sadly reflects the reality. Was there a significant moment that inspired the composition?
Once I looked at the world, the politicians, the brainwashed public, the distractions on tv and entertainment, people glued to their phones and tech, I saw that as the world became more digitally connected to each other. We actually became more disconnected from each other. Its a strange paradox. We no longer are doing things in person and face to face as much. Away from others. Away from nature. So our energies are not vibrating together. Example is that people will talk trash online and argue, but would never say this in person. There is little emotion connection and repercussion in a digital world. Its more cold. Disconnected. Even though its more connected technically. Everyone. worships celebrities and worships what they are told by media and close themselves off to any other thoughts. They follow like sheep over and over again expecting a different result. So I feel they are all insane, but then I feel maybe I am the one who is insane because I cannot assimilate like they do, I cannot just dumb myself down and be happy and carefree as they are. Ignorance is bliss.
The single is also part of your upcoming “1984” album, how would you characterize it for our readers?
I wrote part of this album in a pandemic, part during a job for the Coroner removing dead bodies from crime scenes and accidents, part in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Ukraine which is the radioactive abandoned city frozen in time in the mid 80s, and part traversing across Ukraine during the Russian invasion and war.
Rescuing family and driving through the airstrikes and walking through the destroyed cities. This album was forged in the absolute darkest parts of humanity, and to transmute this into art which is a beautiful thing that can affect people positively was something my soul needed to do to survive and was a huge undertaking.
My favorite book is George Orwell's 1984. I think it is a the most future predicting thing I ever read. I saw life before the tech revolution and now see how privacy and rights are taken so easily with hitting "agree" on an app or device. I see how the corrupt war causing agencies can monitor everyone now short of your thoughts. We are entering that thought-crime territory. These agencies can influence the media and brainwash the public into mass formation psychosis.
1984 book talked about this all. repetitive words in programming and media. changing the definitions of things. getting people to a point where they openly welcome and embrace loss of freedoms and surveillance. In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act. The name of the album is a tribute to that book because it all came true. We are in it. Also to go with it, I re-created all my favorite synthesizers from my favorite 80s songs.
“Music for riding through the apocalypse”, what is your view on this, are we already in the beginning or how far are we from it?
The apocalypse is something that is always happening. It just depends on who or what you are. I have raised foxes, wolves, and raccoons. I saw my raccoons all slowly get eaten by other animals. The tribe grew smaller and smaller. To those raccoons, every night they go out for pure survival, to find food, stay alive, and be stalked by serial killers like those above them in the food chain. Every day is life and death. They are in the apocalypse. I picked a lot of bodies up from Skid Row. The infamous homeless capital of America.
These people are also in day to day survival. Every night fighting for their lives against raiders and thieves. Surrounded by unstable people wandering the streets on drugs with mental illness and no connection to reality. A lot of them so violent they might as well be literal demons prowling in the dark. They are in the apocalypse. People in cataclysmic disasters like islands melting on fire, hurricane,s or tsunamis are as well. When moving to Los Angeles we drove through a tornadic super cell storm system. There was s much chaos, strobe lightning, and uncertainty we had to pull over, it looked like an apocalyptic event. I grew up in Ohio where we had these tornadoes all the time.
The siren going off echoing in the town while under brutal red or green skies, hiding under mattresses in basements, were apocalyptic moments. Driving across a nation in war, seeing mushroom clouds of black smoke in the distance all around me and hearing the siren again, seeking cover, walking through the rubble afterwards, is apocalyptic. Its always happening somewhere to someone. The real question is not are we in the apocalypse or headed towards it, the question is how much more frequent are apocalyptic events becoming for all?
Producer, Video Director, Composer, Singer/Songwriter - what part or art field requires the most work and what is your favourite one in the end?
Sitting down and taking whats in my feelings or head and composing it into notes is my favorite. Most of the time I start with piano. Let the emotions inside speak through my fingers and ears and turn themselves into audio frequencies. This is always step one and my fav.
And in all these different chapters of art, how do you determine that a song/video or lyrics are appropriate for the audience?
I do this for myself as an audio journal entry. Its very rare I let the public hear the music. I have created over 2000 songs. I am turning my own darkness into light. Once in a while I will do a group of music like this 1984 album, and hope the public can get some sort of experience from it that they will cherish, as other artists have done for me.
With whom would you like to discuss music, regardless of whether they are alive or not?
I would like to sit with Nikolai Tesla and do audio frequency science experiments together. Find new ways to stimulate the brain in positive ways with music or to levitate and move objects through vibrations. Everything starts with basic vibration waves. Molecules vibrating slow or fast, close or far, music, matter, everything. Its all connected. This is why I tune to 432hz instead of 440hz.
What are you working on at the moment and what can we expect from you next?
I just finished the 24 song 1984 album with its 80s vibes. I have another album almost done called "All Ghosts" which is more classical inspired music heavy on piano and strings, and another album called "Perception" which will have a more 1930s-1950s sounds mixed with modern vibes. Each album I make will be its own universe with a specific audio and visual theme.
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