The last time we turned your ears towards the pan-European duo syrra, we described them as the “dark sisters of this minimalist, electronic, fragmented and experimental scene”, home to the likes of The Knife, The Acid and Warpaint. With the first exclusive stream of syrra’s debut Hush EP (to be released tomorrow), our depiction of this powerful pair stands as true as ever. For those of you who have yet to log syrra on your new music radar, let’s fill you in…

syrra is London-based Swedish singer Aneta and Portugal-based Berliner producer Sinah whose experiences of difficult countries and cultures find common ground in sisterhood. Hence the origin of the name “syrra”, meaning “sister” in Swedish. Let’s take single ‘I Can Be Mean’ as an example, it’s a song about battling against self-doubt and struggling to accept another’s affection because you’ve yet to learn to love yourself - it’s a thoroughly human, universal experience and yet seems so deeply personal. Then there’s ‘Sick’, which we could argue is closer to a hetero-normative female experience (although not exclusively) in a relationship where one’s expected to fit into outdated roles of nurse, carer, mother to a locking other. Aneta takes a stand here, ‘Don’t tell me I’m to blame, / don’t tell me it’s okay,’ over the oscillating electronics of Sinah, arguably absent from the human touch of acoustics. ‘Wasp’ is easily our favourite track on the EP, the production is strange and magical, lyrics are inventive and alive, and the performance video is perfectly minimal and DIY.

Created in a studio shed in the shadows of the Portuguese mountains, Hush EP is a world of honest emotion and musical experimentation that has us wishing to be a syrra sister too.

Check out our full interview with Aneta below, plus an exclusive early stream of the debut EP.

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TMR: As we know your band name “syrra” derives from the Swedish word for sister, do you think there’s a special connection between women in a creative space, whether sisters by blood or choice?

I think there is, or lately I have just become more aware of it. I’m a member of various communities for women and non-binary in music, and there definitely is a sense of support and sisterhood. Possibly because up until recently I feel that women on stage, behind the desk, or in the studio have been seen as a bit of a novelty, but it looks like the tide is turning, and I’ve felt that girls are very united in the desire to change things and make each other stronger and more visible in the creative world.

TMR: You cite one of your influences as Warpaint, the well-known feminist shoegaze band, who else has been influential to the sound of syrra?

For me, Karen O and Santigold have always been huge songwriting influences. The Knife and James Blake have also been important for their use of space in music. And Sade for how she’s able to be vulnerable in her lyrics. Warpaint’s production and interplay of melodies and harmonies is a monumental influence for sure though.

TMR: All of your songs deal with relationships, broken or breaking, so would you say this also influences the darker, fragmented style of your music?

Yes, definitely. For me, syrra has always been a platform to access my deepest, most honest feelings - as a way of becoming ok with myself and understanding what’s going on with me. At the time these songs were written, these were the subjects that wanted to come to the surface the most. There was a lot of darkness and anger and emotional turmoil, which has inevitably influenced the music, but it was very healing and therapeutic. The goal was always to dredge up this darkness in the hope that there’s someone out there who can relate, and benefit from me putting these feelings into words, and feel better and less alone.



TMR: We had the pleasure of premiering your first single ‘I Can Be Mean’. Beyond being an introduction to your dark-pop, what does that track represent?

Yes, thank you so much for joining us on our journey from the very start! Can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support. For me, this track represents a big and scary leap of faith, being the first song that we put out. It’s all well and good writing music in your bedroom for your own pleasure, but making it into something bigger and showing that to the world takes guts. Lyrically though, it’s me just being my own therapist, making sense of thoughts and feelings and putting a finger on what exactly is going on in my head and in my relationships. Hopefully there’s someone out there who hears this and thinks “oh good, I’m not crazy. Maybe it’s normal to feel like this…”

TMR: Following on from the debut, you released ‘Sick’, which ramped up the melodious synth textures while keeping that direct conversation. Do you think that truth is something often lost for the sake of making a “hit”?

That might be the case sometimes, but words of truth can still be catchy and concise and universal enough for people all over the world to want to sing along. Terrible example, but what about TLC’s ‘Scrubs’ or OutKast’s ‘Roses’? Under a playful demeanour, these are still lyrics containing fairly hard hitting truths. For me, it’s become important to use brutally honest words and not beat around the bush, because for years before that I thought it was cool to use metaphors, words difficult to spell and pronounce, and classic indie-dream pop ways around the subject, consequently hardly letting me express anything. I wanted to start writing songs that really, really mean something to me. And they might not be hits, but the hope is that someone out there can relate.

TMR: Would you say that the formation of syrra was one of searching for your sound, an instant connection, or something in between?

It was finding the sound to match the words for sure, but it’s been a process and a concept brewing up in my mind for years. It feels like the idea has matured and developed over time and finally manifested itself in these songs.

TMR: The distance between Sweden and Portugal is quite a way to go to find your musical sister, so how did you two meet?

Haha, and lots of other places in between! We met at university in London actually, which is a great way of meeting other people who are also looking for something.



TMR: Recently, you shared your third left-field pop production ‘Wasp’, which sways with soulful emotion and I hear was written in a shed in the shadows of the Portuguese mountains. How important is environment to the creation of your music?

Our songs are normally born in one place and finished in another, but I think it’s that journey of working on them in various environments, and playing them in various spaces that helps to solidify the structure and sound. It’s like with mixing - you have to play the track on various speakers and in different rooms to see if the mix holds up!

TMR: When it comes to writing a new syrra track, where does the process start? With the lyrics, a few chords, dough demos, computerised beats etc.?

I’m trying this thing of getting a vocal melody and lyrics in my head first, and then building the rest of the song around that, so that’s what we’ve done a lot. We use a mix of real instruments and computers. Sinah also had a few instrumentals lying around which sounded really cool, which I wrote topline for and we turned them into fully structured songs. After we have all the parts we dissect the structure and literally take the song under a microscope to make sure that every element of it is exactly where we want it to be. This can take ages, but is also extremely satisfying to know you’ve left no stone unturned and done your absolute best. Saying that, I think there’s still a lot to learn...

TMR: So far, we’ve been treated to three hauntingly beautiful tracks and we’d love to know what the long term plan is for the syrra project?

We have an EP coming out at the end of this month which is like an end of some sort of a cycle and feels very exciting and emotional. The next EP is also written and pretty much ready to go, so it won’t be too long till we put out more new material. Meanwhile, the live set is something we’re working to perfect, and are hoping to play a few more shows this year. I feel that we’re not going to stop until I’ve worked out and put into words every bit of human emotion that goes through me...



Hush EP is out tomorrow.

-Hannah Thacker