Perhaps it's the same in Australia for a place like Darwin. The electronic soul of Sietta is quite unlike anything else on the local scene at the moment, but producer and multi-instrumentalist James Mangohig says that, despite the duo's gathering momentum, he and vocalist Caiti Baker have no plans on moving anytime soon.
“These days you could be anywhere,” he explains. “Some of the biggest producers in the world are sitting on their arse, smoking blunts and sending beats over the net. I love the lifestyle up here. Right now, it's so sunny - I don't know what a jumper is, man. I guess we'll see. Time will tell, but I'd like to call Darwin home.”



Moving south certainly wouldn't be a pipedream, given the reception granted to Sietta's head-turning debut album, 'The Seventh Passenger'.
“I'm really happy with it. It's been awesome,” Mangohig says. “We started sketching it out when we were working in the bush with some indigenous communities. We recorded in a ten-day slot in December, another two weeks in February, and that was it. We were in Melbourne with [TZU's] Count Bounce, just living it and breathing it. I dig that and I think that's how we work best, Caiti and me. We'd just get intense with Count Bounce and he is really like our third unofficial member, in a way.”



Bounce produced the record, Mangohig having played bass for TZU's live shows during 2008 and 2009. It was a relationship that soon spread to other members of the notoriously tight Elefant Traks fraternity. It was only natural, then, for 'The Seventh Passenger' to receive a release on the label, and also for Sietta to head out on tour this winter in support of labelmates The Herd.
“For sure we're excited. Particularly because I've had a sneak of their new record and I think it's going to work well. The Aussie hip hop scene has become a lot more mainstream, I guess, but guys like The Herd are a bit weirder in that sense. People struggle to pigeonhole our sound, but I think we'll dovetail very nicely with The Herd.”

SIETTA SUPPORT THE HERD AT THE COOLY HOTEL, COOLANGATTA, SEPTEMBER 2, AND THE HI-FI SEPTEMBER 3.