For meija, the alt-rock moniker of Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and producer Jamie Sierota, creative and personal evolution remains a work in progress.
That fresh perspective comes shining through on Jamie’s second album which set the stage for Jamie’s solo vision, elevating his DIY aesthetic and leaning harder into ‘90s alternative influences, from Eels to Sparklehorse to Beck and Primal Scream, plus draws lyrical inspiration from stories in Greek mythology like The Odyssey and Sisyphus.
“This record ended up being a lot more internal than the previous one,” Jamie says of the album, featuring guest appearances from alternative tastemakers Eels, JAWNY, and Hand Habits.
“I was thinking about family a lot. There've been several deaths in the past couple of years. I was in a band with my family, and leaving was a hard decision. It was an interesting dynamic to leave my family to create a new one of my own when I was so young. Over the past couple of years, I realized that some of the things I thought I was over, I wasn’t. I buried it instead of facing it. For this record, I have been re-examining the past 10 years of my life and reconstructing things. It is about going through the process—you need to go through the bad to get to the good.” explains Sierota of the themes behind the album which he recorded and produced in his home studio.
There might always be something, but it doesn’t have to be all bad.
Having launched his career at age 15 in the hit pop band Echosmith, Sierota started over again in his early twenties when he stepped away from the sibling band to get married and start his own family in Los Angeles. He then spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as a writer and producer, eventually working with artists like Charly Bliss, Adam Lambert, Aly & AJ, JAWNY, and Quinn XCII. He has gained a loyal fan following with over 20 million streams worldwide and praise from outlets like Stereogum, Flood, Earmilk, Complex, Ladygunn, KCRW, BBC, and more.
