The Scots folk singer and Outlander star embracing 1980s pop in her new songs
She has been one of Scotland's most successful folk singers for more than a decade.
Siobhan Miller is a four-time winner of the Scots Singer of the Year title, released five albums in the space of eight years and even won a starring role singing in the hit TV show Outlander.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut now the Glasgow singer-songwriter has turned to an unlikely source of inspiration for her latest material - the anthemic sounds of 1980s pop music.
She has headed in a new direction with her latest songs after winning new fans and wooing festival crowds in the last two years with her singalong reinventions of traditional folk songs.
Now Miller, who made her debut appearance at the Barrowland Ballroom during Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival earlier this year, is about to head out on a UK tour of largely standing venues, to unveil the "genre-bending evolution," as her latest promotional material puts it, at the heart of a clutch of new songs.
She has embraced the "synth-pop" sounds made famous in the 1980s by bands like The Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Heaven 17, Erasure and Depeche Mode in the first original songs she has released for four years.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe singer-songwriter, who is originally from Penicuik, in Midlothian, has been performing at folk clubs and festivals across Scotland since she was 13.
Miller said: "I've been singing and making music for as long as I remember.
"I got into folk music through my parents. It feels like such a huge part of my identity.
"My dad was so into music. He didn't do it as a job, but he played guitar and sang in folk clubs, so that was a huge influence. We were really into The Beatles as a family, and we listened to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“When I started going to folk festivals I would have these incredible singers like Sheila Stewart passing their songs on to me directly. I would go off to folk festivals for the weekend, but that wasn't the music I was listening to with my friends. I was mad into Take That and the Spice Girls.
"I've listened to all sorts of music all through my life, but particularly songwriters.
"I guess I've always been fascinated by the ability to tell stories through songs in all types of different genres, whether through traditional songs or my own songs."
Glasgow’s musical melting pop, and contemporary acts like The 1975 and Bleachers, as well as the Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches, have also provided some of the inspiration for new songs Over Again and The Club of Squandered Youth, which were co-written with her husband, musician Euan Burton and fellow Glaswegian singer Matthew Herd. The latter song, which has just been released, is described as “an anthemic ode to Glasgow.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdShe said: "In the last few years, I guess I've been interested in pushing myself outwith my comfort zone and the boundaries that can be placed around artists when they're put into a genre. People expect a certain sound from them.
"I've not really been thinking about it as a shift in sound, but about encompassing more of the influences from the music that surrounds me, but with that storytelling element of folk music at the heart of it.
"I didn't really know at the start of these new songs where they were going to go, but it's been a really exciting journey, from the bones of the songs to finding the soundscapes and directions for them, and what influences we could bring to them.
“It’s a different sonic landscape. There is still acoustic guitar and fiddle on these tracks, but they are presented in a different way.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMiller has forged recording and live collaborations with some of Scotland's leading singers and musicians, including Eddi Reader, James Grant, Admiral Fallow frontman Louis Abbott and Lau singer Kris Drever.
She said: "I really love bringing in the ideas and influences of others. I'm so lucky that I've had the opportunity to collaborate with so many amazing musicians.
"The musicians in the band I'm currently working with have brought in so much energy, creativity and inspiration. Lots of elements have come from them, as well as bands that I love.
"Two of the best shows I've ever been to were when I saw The 1975 and Bleachers in Glasgow. I guess it was their energy and their ability to bring in that storytelling through those big anthemic choruses that you get in eighties music. I ran the half marathon in Glasgow recently and had The 1975 and Bleachers blaring out the whole way.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"For some people, it may be an unusual path, but for me it really makes sense at this point in making music to be drawing on all of the influences around me.
"I was born in 1987 so obviously didn't get to experience eighties music at the time. But there seem to have been a resurgence in acts who are bringing in elements of eighties music today. It's really interesting how musical trends, directions and sounds are popping up again. I find that so exciting. I want to draw on that and bring it to my own music.
"Social media and the way we can access music now has really changed things. I’m discovering new music every day.
A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Miller was honoured for the first time at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2011 and released her debut album, Flight of Time three years later.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHer most recent album, Bloom, which was released in 2022, has sparked something of a revival of interest in a host of traditional songs, including Silly Wizard's The Queen of Argyll, Ewan MacColl's Go, Move, Shift, Open All Night by Rab Noakes and the Irish folk song I'm a Rover.
She said: "I had missed so much that feeling of standing shoulder to shoulder with other people, whether friends or strangers, to share an experience.
"When we were able to take those songs out into festival settings over the last couple of summers they got such an enthusiastic and energetic reaction. I really wanted to keep the momentum and that summer vibe going with these songs."
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.