Techno has been the sound of the underground for decades. With its dark repetitive, bass driving beats and a flurry of ambient sounds, techno brings a sound to unlike anything other genre. Its fast. Its mean. Its angry. Its… beautiful. EBM, another form of EDM, and techno have been making the waves and is the music of the after hours clubs; pre pandemic of course. After festivals and concerts in such cities as Miami, Philadelphia, Paris, New York and, LA, you could find after hours parties going to 6 am if not later. These parties were usually done in abandon warehouses or other clubs rented for the event. One of the coolest aspects of techno is the ambient feeling of the music. Haunting vocals on a dark techno track really bring the vibe that a super natural force is around you. No one currently is better at creating this atmosphere than French artist Sierra.

Sierra is a French musician, composer and DJ. She has dropped amazing projects in the past and recently released the jaw dropping video for her track “All About Love”. We had a chance to catch up with Sierra and chat about her music process, what the future of techno is and what her plans are for the future.

Classic Entourage Mag: Thank you so much for sitting down with us! How are you? 

Sierra: Hi, I am doing really well thanks! 

CE Mag: Can you talk a little about what your creative process looks like? How do you start working on a song? 

Sierra: I don’t have just one creative process. it really depends on many things. Sometimes I just sit on my desk, turn on my computer and feel directly inspired by something and sometimes I like to think about what I want to create before really starting to compose. 

CE Mag: How did you get started in music? What inspired you? 

Sierra: I started music at 5-6 years old with piano and violins lessons. I really hated it. I hated it so much that I forgot everything about music theory. I really started to be inspired by music at 13-14 years old when I bought my first guitar but my interest for the Electronic music came really later. I remember discovering JUSTICE or VITALIC as a teenager. It was a real shock to hear that kind of sounds. I wanted to do the same thing but I had no idea how to do. At 19years old I bought a synthesizer and started to create some things on my computer.

CE Mag: What are some of the trends in the music industry that you disagree with? What do you want to see changed? 

Sierra: The fact of seeing 80%-90% of men on the line up is something that I really cannot support. And in the same time the fact of receiving some invitations to play by saying “ we would like to invite you to play because we need more women that day” is something really hard to read… I want to see more women on stage but I refuse to be invited “because I am a woman”. 

“I refuse to be invited “because I am a woman” “

Sierra

CE Mag: How do you define your sound? 

Sierra: My sound is something between EBM, and darkwave. But I also really feel inspired by techno, synthwave and even trapmusic. SIERRA is something hybrid and cinematic.

CE Mag: What are some challenges you face while being a musician in the industry? 

Sierra: Starting a music project is a bit like starting to create a company. You invest time, money, energy. Staying motivated and keep working on your sounds whatever happens can be  hard. For most of the artists ( including me ) you also have to deal with a full time job to pay your rent. You have to be strong mentally to face all of these things. But right now I think the biggest challenge is the COVID. It’s been one year since the culture stopped. Feeling inspired to compose right now is not an easy task.

CE Mag: Can you talk about the inspiration for your latest music video? What do those themes mean to you?

Sierra: I started to talk with Parker Gayan ( the director) when I was composing “ALL ABOUT LOVE”. I sent him a moodboard about all the images that inspired me to compose this EP. We really had the same feeling about the type of images we liked. Images of night, of violence… Parker Gayan talked to me about the movie “A beautiful day” and I really liked this inspiration. The themes of Anger and revenge really inspire me when I compose my music.

CE Mag: What are your goals for the rest of the year? What about the next 5 years? 

Sierra: I don’t like to have too much goals because when I cannot achieve them I feel so frustrated. I feel a better musician when I feel free to do what I want whenever I want. So my only goal is to keep working on my sounds and maybe compose a new EP or LP before the end of the year. But let’s see what’s going on. In the next 5 years I wish I will have the opportunity to compose the OST of a movie or a video game.

CE Mag: Thank you for chatting with us! What is some advice you would give new musicians coming into the space?

Sierra: Staying positive is the thing the most important when you start to work on a project. Sometimes you will feel lost, sometimes you won’t feel inspired but that’s ok, that’s part of the job. The most important thing is to keep working whatever happens. 

You can catch Sierra on her IG below:

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