The Isle of Skye in Scotland, where singer/songwriter Siiga grew up, is a small island that is engulfed in beautiful landscapes. The atmosphere of Skye has been extremely influential in Siiga’s music because nature is where most of his inspiration has stemmed from. His last album was very focused on this scenery and it has led up to his newest album, “Gemini Rising.”
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Siiga shared with American Songwriter that this album was finished while he was back in Scotland. He returned to take care of his mother who had fallen ill with cancer. He used this time to write, but mostly to take a break from the music and spend time with her.
“I had this constant astro kind of feel in my head of the concept of time there when I went back. I was kind of going through a personal loss and I came back to reflect on that and start working on the record.”
This record was actually started a while back, but Siiga put everything on hold at the time to go back and help his mother. Eventually, he decided he wanted to pick up where he left off in writing this record, after some encouragement from his manager who had flown out to visit.
“Once my mother passed away, I was left with this half-written record, not sure if I even wanted to finish it quite honestly,” says Siiga.
Even before lockdown was set in place for the world, he had found himself in seclusion in Skye.
“I was in my own isolation and it felt like everything was uncertain, so I dug into finishing the record and the idea of ‘Gemini rising’ was kind of born … Actually, I remember very clearly writing it. I was in this cottage, sort of in the middle of nowhere really, and I was kind of obsessing over the cycles of the moon and everything being connected. It felt like a good mantra for the rest of the record.”
Siiga is a self-taught musician who writes, plays and records primarily all of his own songs, but instead of developing the songs using the standard pen to paper method, he looks to colors, the moonlight and the memories of the landscape around him to guide him in channeling the music.
“It’s sort of trial and error. Music was almost an immediate language that I understood and so I never really learned it properly,” says Siiga. “I don’t really follow any rules with the stuff that I do. I’m very much into the spontaneity that comes with creativity.”
A few of the tracks have already been released, but the rest of the album can be heard down below:
