Los Angeles duo Siren Section exist where distortion meets melody, emotion meets circuitry and noise becomes a form of storytelling. Formed by longtime collaborators James Cumberland and John Dowling, the pair has spent over two decades developing from underground experimentalists to purveyors of a sound that feels equally intimate and immense, contrasting factors but never at odds with each other.
Their creative partnership stretches back to the 90s, when they first met in high school and bonded over their shared fascination with sound in all its forms, from punkās energy to the abstract pull of electronic music. That collision of influences led to their first project, JINSAI, founded in 2001 and across the 2000s, JINSAI became a small cult phenomenon, releasing multiple albums that twisted together jazz, noise and electronic experimentation into something adventurous and unique. When that chapter came to a close around 2010, the pair regrouped under a new name, Siren Section, borrowed from a lyric in one of their unreleased JINSAI songs
Siren Sectionās early releases such as 2014’s All We Want All at Once and New Disconnect in 2017, outlined what would become their distinct sonic framework via a blend of shoegaze, post punk and glitchy electronic textures that theyāve come to describe as glitchgaze. After nearly a decade of relative quiet, Siren Section re-emerged in 2025 with the singles “Glass Cannon” and “Medicine,” both previews of their ambitious new concept album titled Separation Team.
The record, shaped over four years of writing and production, is a dense, immersive experience that rewards patience and emotional engagement. Across nineteen tracks, Separation Team fuses post punk intensity with shoegaze haze and electronic experimentation, crafting a sound that feels absorbing and unlike anything else out there.
The album progresses like a journey through static and fog, an exploration of emotional systems under pressure where shimmering distortion that hovers like vapour, pulsing beats mimic heartbeat rhythms and melodies surface gently before being swallowed by digital noise. Itās music that mirrors the disorientation of the modern age, where everything feels connected yet strangely distant. but beneath the haze, thereās always a sense of melody, a human context that offsets the abstraction.
Set up by the moody pulse of deep low end textures and zappy synth flickers on opening track “CONSTRUCT,” an ominous scene descends with the warble of processed vocals and melancholic guitars, expanding with flashes of melody and punk aggression to craft a gripping soundscape packed full of twists and turns. “BULLET TRAIN” lands with squelchy synth textures and grooving trip hop energy capped by rhythmic and subtly uplifting vocal leads before the avant pop style scene launches into an all consuming tirade of crunching instrumentation and rattling percussion, forming a song that oscillates between two highly distinct vibes.
“SOLIDARITY” leans into the band’s more tender side with a delicate new wave-tinged sound of jangly guitar tones, soft bass lines, pattering percussion and soothing vocals carrying gentle melodies. Other highlights on the album include songs like “DANGEROUS TO KNOW” with its laid back rhythmic flow, intricate instrumental layers and pop-tinged songwriting casting a charming listening experience that’s mesmeric, memorable and thoroughly original all at once.
Previously released single “GLASS CABIN” pairs crisp percussion with elegant piano-led arrangement as hushed vocals float above to serve up an emotive scene that develops with fuzzy guitar tones to deliver a truly affecting sound. Closing the album with “FIVE FIFTY FIVE,” the mellow bounce of shuffling percussion, minimal arrangement and delicate vocal performance carrying storytelling lyricism offers a bright and upbeat finale to conclude their superb new album. With Separation Team, Siren Section have built a record that flows across genres and moods, offering a musical work that’s enjoyable and forward-thinking from start to finish.
We caught up with Siren Section to find out more about their musical journey so far, their new album Separation Team and what they’ve got lined up for the future. Check out our interview with Siren Section below.
Hey guys, howās things?
Great! Weāve been busy, but busy is good.
How did you get together as a project?
John and I met in high school, and would talk a lot about musicā¦. Thinking back on it, we didnāt really talk about much else. This was back in the pre-file sharing days, so weād lend each other CDs. I was getting into electronic music and industrial, and John was much more rooted in punk, hardcoreā¦ guitar based rockā¦ I think we started out just introducing the other to a lot of the music we were getting personally obsessed with.
Which artists do you draw most inspiration from?
As far as artists go, I think it would trace back to us trading tapes and CDs. I was liking a different kind of guitar rock than John in some ways when we metā¦ more goth and post punk stuffā¦ John introduced me to Pavement, Sonic Youth, Unwoundā¦ I probably introduced John to bands like Skinny Puppy, Autechreā¦ We have obvious meeting points, where we both already loved it and we could share enthusiasm about it, like with My Bloody Valentine.
I think maybe the most influential album Iāve ever bought was the Richard D James album, by Aphex Twin.
How else do you find inspiration for your music?
Literature, a lotā¦ I guess our band name is a lit reference, so that tracks. I was reading a lot of Shirley Jackson while we were making Separation Team. Clive Barkerās books about The Art are really inspirational to me.
There are some movies that I can throw on that put me in the mood to experiment with weird sounds. Liquid Sky comes to mind.
What was your highlight of 2025?
God what a bleak yearā¦ I donāt need to get into politics, but itās been bleakā¦ and really, I was so completely living under a rock, working on trying to finish this mammoth albumā¦ It would be like Iād sneak out into the outside world, read the news, and the skyās falling.
So my highlight? For me personally, Iād be lying if I didnāt say āfinishing Separation Team.ā Iāve orbited around it for years.
What do you love about the Los Angeles music scene?
LA has room for every genre of music, and it gives birth to musical movements that actually matter and influence things. The whole Low End Theory club comes to mindā¦ it blew up and became this huge thing where Prince and Thom Yorke would show up and DJ or something, but originally it was rooted in a lot of the instrumental hip hop and glitch hop that LA fostered the space for. Thereās room for all of that here, along with 80s hair metal wank revival or whatever. Whatās your pleasure sir.
What would you say is the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy your sound?
I picture some sort of penthouse high rise apartment with cinematic evening lighting. Itās gotta have one of those obscene sliding glass door patios, where you can look down on the city and drink mocktails. Pleather couches.
How has your own style and sound evolved since you started out?
Weāre more cohesiveā¦ but weāre still completely bizarre and genre-agnosticā¦ I donāt know, it now sounds like itās ādefinitely a genre of musicā now, but which one it is Iām not sure.
I think we started out being overly ambitious from the get goā¦ we bought the cart before we even allocated the funds for the horseā¦ and looking back itās pretty obvious where we stumbled trying to carry that ambition. I would like to think weāre able to pull it off a bit better now.
Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?
If it was us as a band and I got to pick anyone? I dunno, maybe Robert Smith? God, thatās hardā¦
How did you find making your new album āSeparation Teamā?
At some point really overwhelming. It was full of all sorts of exciting dramaā¦ emotionally it was really intense. It got a lot more personal than I expected it to get, and after a few years of working on it I wondered if it was so great for me psychologically to be so deeply entrenched in this it, because itās not really a sunshiney happy album.
What message did you want to get across with this release?
I donāt know if itās a message, but we wanted this to be āan album.ā Itās not just a collection of songs, itās really meant to be listened to as a whole. And I know that sounds obnoxious, but itās just the way this thing is. Thereās several songs on it that I donāt think could have existed on another album, outside of this context. Like, I donāt think Deer Hunter could have been elsewhereā¦ I donāt even see that one being a b-side. It was either on the album or not.
And thatās the thingā¦ weāve moved towards a music economy that has left āthe albumā behind, as a concept. Itās not very pragmatic to do what weāre doingā¦ everyone suggested we break it up into two albumsā¦ but it wouldnāt work that way. The whole record was constructed like a bookā¦ you canāt take chapters out or stick them into different books.
I wanted it to stand as that ā a complete work. I think the album accomplishes something that a single (or a collection of singles) cannot.
What artist have you been listening to most recently?
I really have been enjoy the ROMES album SONIC TRASH. Itās like if you took Evil Heat by Primal Scream and mashed it up with Check Your Head era Beastie Boys, with this great percussion going onā¦ itās got that sputtering distorted post-industrial dance thingā¦ the aggression on it is playful but confrontational. Itās a really fun record.
Whatās the main thing you want people to get out of listening to your music?
The music thatās resonated a lot with me has sort of become an extension of who I am, so itās hard to quantify what āI hope people can find something important in it,ā would really entailā¦ or I maybe itās pretentious to say I āhope they recognize some of themselves in it.ā But thatās the ambition, right?
Whatās been your favourite live performance so far?
Maybe David Bowie. Iād say heās the best performer Iāve ever seen live. I feel really lucky to have gotten the opportunities.
Who would be 3 artists to headline your dream festival? And where would it be?
Einsturzende Neubauten, Tom Waits, and Bjork. Itād be really clever if they could all get together at the end for a sort of grand finale; Tom could run around narrating things like a sportscaster into a distorted bullhorn, while Blixa breaks shit and does that great inward screaming thingā¦ Bjork makes it work, cause thatās what she does.
Where would it be? I like the idea of those Cruise Ship festivalsā¦ but weād have to do this on some haunted craft, like The Queen Mary.
Do you have any advice for a new artist wanting to follow your footsteps?
Musically? I donāt knowā¦ just remember that nobody else is better equipped than you are to write the best song youāll ever hear. Or never hear, I guess.
Finally, what do you have lined up next
The live show for this monster album, and thatās going to be an adventure to put together. Iām constructing an entirely new live rig, and while the technical details might be boring, itās going to pull off something really unique, and itās going to involve a lot of reactive visuals that weāve working on.
Itās all exciting though. We havenāt played live in years, so weāre jotting it all out, trying to get it right.
Listen to Separation Team below
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