Premiere: Sienna Wild unveil a new era with Falling Apart

Header photo by Jacinta Keefe Photography.

Sienna Wild are a Melbourne-based indie-rock four-piece you're probably familiar with if you're amongst that relatively tight-knit scene, with work including their 2017 EP Back Road Honey pushing the band's energetic, guitar-driven sound into the spotlight. As a result, the cult-followed group have supported names including White Summer and Columbus and have even played Melbourne's Federation Square Summer Series, bringing their pulsing rhythms and charismatic vocals into the live realm in addition to residencies and shows at some of Melbourne's most adored venues.

Over the past two years or so, however, the band have been keeping things relatively quiet-release wise, working on their next stage alongside Holy Holy's Oscar Dawson - the bloke behind basically every great Australian song released in the last few years. Today, we unveil what this new era might just sound like, premiering Falling Apart - a confident and tall-standing return that mixes their thick, indie-rock roots with something a little more accessible and rooted in pop mannerisms. It's most certainly got that glistening indie charm that has marked their past work, with guitarist Jonathan Giokas layering lush melodies amongst the subtle rhythm that keeps everything in check, but on the top of that are vocals that feel a touch brighter than their past work, swirling around with those matching, summer-soaked melodies to create a great entry point to the band if you're yet to be acquainted.

There's a lot of excitement behind the band as they move into 2019, so with a big year planned ahead, listen to Falling Apart below and get to know Sienna Wild a little bit better while you're at it.

Tell us about yourself?

We are a four-piece rock band from Melbourne consisting of Louis Goutos on bass and vocals, Jon Giokas on guitars, Lewis Ciavarella on guitars and vocals, and Lucas Manitta on drums. Sienna Wild’s origins can be traced back to when Jon and Louis were in high school writing songs and learning their instruments. In 2013 the band released their self-titled and self-produced debut album in Melbourne’s historical Sing Sing Studios. We starting gigging around the traps and making a name for ourselves as a formidable live act from then on. Back in the studio in 2016, we recorded The Back Road EP with producer Chris Wiseman, a four-song EP on the back of the single My Parade. More gigs and some airplay from Triple M saw us hone our sound and craft, writing more and more as we moved away from a straight, harder rock sound to a more refined and melodic rock sound. This evolution of the band’s sound and brand was refined even further in 2017 when we hit the studio with a bunch of new songs with Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson at the helm as producer. With Dawson steering the ship, we grew musically and melodically beyond our wildest dreams and the result is a rejuvenated line up and some tasty tunes, namely Falling Apart, the new single.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

We don’t like labels or tags, but we do love rock music that takes you away somewhere and invites you to feel and think, and this is what we aim to create. The vibe on our latest recordings we feel is one of refined and melodic rock, made up of punchy drums, rolling bass lines, meandering guitar licks and our most potent songwriting yet.

What are your production and writing processes like?

We tend to write as a band, drawing on an individual or series of ideas and put it through our creative machine until everyone is happy with the sound, the vibe and the message of the song. As players and writers we all have a unique taste but come from the same roots, so we tend to find our way to a happy medium pretty quickly. Production wise, working with Oscar really opened us up to pushing the boundaries of our sound and musicality while staying within the confines of a pop/rock structure for maximum power. In essence, we create our music in a natural way from the first steps to the final mix.

Can you tell us about your latest single, Falling Apart?

Falling Apart is a song we feel immensely proud and strongly about. Lyrically it tells of a couple on their last legs, with one party having an almost transcendental moment, looking in at the relationship from the outside and realising it isn’t working, “if this is me falling apart, then this is me falling apart”. Musically, the song is simple in many ways, letting the beat and the guitars guide the vibe and the feel. Think Fleetwood Mac meets DMA’s.

Any shows coming up?

We are playing a few locations for the first time on this single tour. We’re playing Karova Lounge in Ballarat on Saturday, April 12th, Frankie’s Pizza by the Slice in Sydney on Thursday, April 17th, and we have our Melbourne launch show at Mr Boogieman Bar in Richmond on Saturday, May 11th. Really excited to keep building on our solid live form in 2019 and growing our amazing fan base.

What does 2019 have in store for you?

Gigging, writing and getting back into the studio towards the second half of the year. The band is writing new songs and recording demos at a rapid rate, so we are really keen to release these new songs and record our new ones, and get them out there for people to listen to. It is shaping up to be a really big year for us and our fans.

Where can we find more of your music?

We are on Spotify, SoundCloud, triple j Unearthed, etc.

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