Echosmith’s Sydney Sierota on Getting Realer Than Ever on the Band’s New Self-Titled Album

In the decade since their debut album and megahit "Cool Kids," alt-pop sibling trio Echosmith have gone on quite the journey.

More than a billion streams later, Sydney, Noah and Graham Sierota are back with their self-titled third album, a self-released, self-produced collection of 12 tracks that put the band fully in control of their own destinies for the first time. The bold indie-pop album is driven by jangly guitars and shimmery, anthemic synths as it tells tales about life—the good, the bad and the ugly—with a feeling that's fresh and optimistic, in spite of the challenges. We had the pleasure of speaking with Echosmith frontwoman Sydney Sierota about precisely how it all came to be. Click HERE to find everywhere you can listen to the album, and keep reading for our full interview with the star.

Sweety High: Why did this third album feel like the right time to finally release a self-titled album? What does it say about this collection of music that it shares a name with you as a band?

Sydney Sierota: It feels like this third album is the best time to do a self-titled album because of our journey that's gotten us here and because of the depth of the songs on Echosmith, the album. So I think that my answer is a bit multi-layered, because as people we're multi-layered and there's lots to it, lots to who we are. This is one of the first times that we've gotten very real about things that we go through. Our second album was also really honest and vulnerable, and so was our first album, but as we've gotten to know ourselves better—as we've gotten older—we've gotten to tell the truth about what that is in our music. As we've gotten older, we've only gotten more honest because we also know ourselves better and we've gone through more challenges than we had when we were I was 15, when we wrote our first album.

And just as there's been more in terms of life, there's been more depth added to our music, and this album feels the truest to who Echosmith is as people and as a band than anything else we've ever made. It felt like it was now or never that we would do a self-titled album. Plus, it's also self-produced—Noah produced it—and we brought in our brother Jamie to produce a lot of it with us as well. This whole album has been very hands-on for us, and I even got to design the album cover and the tracklisting design. We've been so involved in every step of the process. I also vocal produce myself, and did additional production on every single song as well.

It's really cool, because this is the first time that we're putting out something that is self-produced and that you can look at the credits and see our names all over. I think that's also why it feels so fitting to make this self-titled because it has who we are mixed into every single detail, which I think is very new for us and a very fulfilling way to do it.

(Echosmith via Echosmith)

 

SH: What do you feel are the overarching themes of the album? What kind of feel do you hope fans take away from it?

SS: I think some of the overarching themes are family, marriage, relationships and self-discovery, and also a bit of self-doubt in there, as well, because that's life, and I think that literally anybody could relate to these songs. We all have very specific family dynamics that only we understand and that we try to manage properly, but also, all of our relationships, whether they're with a family member, a sibling, a friend or a significant other, are so unique to each of us, but also there are so many similarities that we can connect on.

Of course, we're all trying to get to know ourselves a little bit better and try to be the best versions we can of ourselves, but that is also a very hard road to go on because if you're trying to get to know yourself better, there's also a chance that you're going to see some things that you might want to change or you want to become more healthy in. There are a lot of different meanings on this album. I just hope that people can really feel the honesty when they listen to it, and they can really relate to it and see themselves in it.

 

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SH: How would you describe the album's sound? Production-wise, how did you go about bringing these tracks to life?

SS: I would describe the sound as alternative and fun, but I would also label this as the natural next step for Echosmith, especially after we've taken some risks along the way from our first album to try new sounds out and try other things and other collaborators along the way. I think this album feels like the natural progression from our first album. It feels so true to who we are. We went back to our roots a lot with this album, so it feels like it's the next step in this natural progression of music. It has a unique feel and it was a really fun, long process to make this. We just went with our instincts a lot of the time. A lot of these songs actually sound pretty similar to the original demos, and of course, there are some songs that had more changes along the way, but for a lot of them, we just went with our first instincts, which was what we made the day we wrote the song. We added some fun keyboard lines along the way or added new guitar parts or brought in our brother Jamie for several songs to help produce it with us.

This album was all about finding where we wanted to go and being true to that instead of trying to sound like a certain thing or trying to make a song that's catchy. We made songs that we loved and that felt authentic to us and tried to make the music feel the same way. It was really cool to be in the studio with my brothers like old times, and a lot of time, it was just our family in the studio, and we were having laugh attacks as we were in between takes making a new keyboard line for a song. As I watch some of the videos that I took, I smile, because we were having so much fun when we were making this, and I think that's reflected in the final result. The process was so fun, and I can't wait to continue down this road and keep finding really awesome people to collaborate with along the way, while ultimately keeping the core of who Echosmith is true to what we've found during this process. Taking a risk and trusting ourselves to take more ownership in the process, the production and the songwriting was worth it. That's what led us here.

(Photo credit: Gara)

 

SH: A lot of this album was also written remotely, with the three of you collaborating from cities around the U.S. How do you think that impacted how it came together and the final product?

SS: I was living in San Diego, Noah lives in L.A. and Graham was up in Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, so we were all spread apart for the first time in our lives. Even though it was kind of hard for us, I think that season of independent growth really influenced the album. There are a lot of songs that started because I was journaling since I was by myself and sorting through my insecurities and my worries about the future, and I don't think any of these songs would exist if we didn't have some of that independence and have room to find who we were outside of each other because we're so close. We've always been a really close family, and we work together, so sometimes that doesn't leave a lot of room for you to discover who you are as an individual.

Having that space to grow and discover what that means for each of us was really healthy and necessary for this creative process because it gave us exactly what we needed to get there. A lot of the songs started from a conversation on the phone. I would call Noah and vent about what I was going through or vice versa, and then we would end up writing a song about it. It wasn't a super planned thing, saying "Hey, let's write a song with this concept and I want to make it this tempo," and blah, blah, blah. It was very much an organic process. I think that's why the songs are so honest. They came from us just being close and honest with each other, and then we decided to write a song about it, and then the song appeared. I think it really helps the creative process a lot.

 

SH: In what ways do you have more creative control with this album than ever before?

SS: Well, this album is self-released, which is a big part of the creative process, because it has given us the freedom to execute this album the way we want to and release it the way we want to and build our team the way that we think would be best for the music. Whether it was choosing the director for these live performance videos or choosing and designing the album art, we've gotten to take a more hands-on approach to everything. I think also having the space to let ourselves write the bulk of this album alone and self-produce it has obviously been the No. 1 factor in feeling creative freedom in this process. Having the right people around us is what inspired us to even try that, and having a team that's supportive of what we're doing and where we're going has been key in all of that. It's been a very creative frame process in 100 ways.

 

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SH: How do you feel that these songs represent where you all are in life right now?

SS: I think these songs show how healthy our relationship is as a family. Songs like "Sucks 2 Be Us" address the family dynamic that we have and even the tough decisions we have to make sometimes as a family about how to move forward in business, and as people who love each other. Having those hard conversations and taking those next steps, the best way that you can, can lead to true health in relationships.

It shows how close we are and how much we love each other, and how much we want to just support each other as we continue to do this together. It's a really special thing to have with band members, but especially with family members, because you don't always get to feel that way with your family, and I know we're really blessed to have that with each other. These songs represent how close we are and it really is such a special and unique thing for a family, but also for a band.

 

SH: What are your favorite songs on the album? Why?

SS: I would say "Sour" is my No. 1 favorite because it's completely about my relationship and, and the struggles that my husband I have faced with long-distance, but I think also "Perfect Light" is a really special one, because my husband helped us write that and it just feels so fun. I'm really excited to play that one live because it just has such a fun feel to it. I think "greedy" will always be on my favorites list as well, because it's about our relationship with God and I think I can get so greedy in life and forget what I already have. I forget to be grateful and I forget to see what's around me and open my eyes to that. I know that it's human nature to just be greedy and to not feel satisfied, and struggle to find your place in life, but that song really captures that relationship and trying to grow, but also admitting that you don't know it all and you are far from where you want to be. That one is special to me, too, because I don't think we've really talked that literally and specifically about our relationship with God, and that's a huge part of who we are and what we do. I would say that all of them are my favorite, to be honest. That's why they're on the album.

 

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SH: What are the unique benefits of being in a band together as siblings? What are the unique challenges?

SS: I think the fact that we're actually friends, as well as siblings, is a really big advantage to us because we're able to be honest with each other. A lot of families understand that feeling, and sometimes, you could take that too far and be too honest or not say things in the best way, because you're so close. You have the freedom to speak freely, but the fact that we're able to be so honest helps us get things done in the best way and also helps us to feel at peace with each other. You don't have to wonder where someone stands or how they feel because we're just going to tell each other. Communication is so key to any job that you have, so I think that's a really big advantage.

I think one disadvantage is that we are so close and we all want everyone to be happy, but sometimes we don't always agree, and because we care about each other so much, it can feel extra painful when we're not agreeing on something or we're not seeing eye to eye. If we weren't so close, we probably wouldn't care as much that we weren't on the same page, but because we are, and we want there to be peace within this band and this family, it can really take a toll emotionally when we're there yet. We always get there, eventually, and it takes compromise and lots of good communication.

 

SH: How do you feel you've grown musically since Lonely Generation? In what ways is your growth reflected on this new album?

SS: I think we've grown in pretty much every way. Even the fact that we wrote most of these songs—just us—is a big testimony to that. That growth came from pushing ourselves to try that and to try something new and to see what happened if we did write a lot of songs. It took a lot of trial and error to see that growth, but just having the confidence to try something new is kind of hard to have. Again, we had the right people in our circle telling us that we could write our own songs, without needing to have somebody else there.

This was a good time for us to try new things. Even Noah being the producer on this album with me having a hand in production on everything shows how much we've grown. We've all tried to learn more in the past couple of years since Lonely Generation. I've taken piano lessons, I've been practicing my guitar and working on my songwriting skills most days a week, and I think that that has been reflected in where we are now and how we've made this music. It's taken a lot of personal growth and personal efforts to get us to this point of bringing it together and seeing tangibly how much we've grown since Lonely Generation. We've grown into almost new people in the past couple of years, and I'm really grateful for the time that's been spent getting there and the work that we've put in because we finally get to see it pay off and feel rewarded even just having a result to listen to.

Listen to the new Echosmith album here:

For more on our favorite comebacks, click HERE to read our interview with Yellowcard's Sean Mackin on their new EP, Childhood Eyes.