Sistersweet [Interview]

SisterSweet - DJ & producer. Her musical taste has been created by masters of Renaissance series. Her music are filled a good fusion of progressive sounds and deep house vibrations. SisterSweet doesn’t belong to any musical trend and conciliates always different tastes that’s why her sound seems modern, atmospheric and full of energy. The geography of SisterSweet’s gigs extend from Ibiza to Far East.

SisterSweet produces music on well-known European labels such as Balkan Connection, SkyTop, Deepwibe Underground. Sister Sweet is a host of the radio-show about electronic music LUCH i SVETA on the Internet radio www.megapolisnight.ru - every Sunday at 6 p.m. msk SisterSweet presents progressive house DJ-sets.

This week sees Sistersweet making her debut on La Foresta Recordings with 'Sunrise In Lanka', alongside a remix from Maze 28. Progressive Astronaut caught up with Sistersweet to learn more about the release of ‘Sunrise In Lanka’, her background, studio process, inspirations, future plans, and more. Enjoy.

Hi Sveta, thank you for joining us. What is your current mood and what was the last piece of music you listened to?

I’m great, thank you. My single at LaForesta label has been chosen by Hernan Cattaneo and I can’t wait until he plays it live. I’m fully satisfied with my current sound and inspired for further work. Now I’m making the playlist for my upcoming gigs - the music I am listening to are promo tracks which will be included into my DJ sets.

What are your plans for the next week?

I’m going on tour to Russian cities.

Can you name five tracks that were important in your musical development and why they are so significant for you?

Sure, my top-5 is:

1. Hernan Cattaneo & John Tonks - Warsaw. This track and Cattaneo’s compilation at Renaissance «The Masters series» changed my world many years ago. This is how my love for electronic music was born.
2. Emi Galvan - Timeless. Frankly speaking I used this track as a reference at the beginning of my sound production.
3. Shai T - Illusions. I am impressed how organic house can be so atmospheric and life-affirming.
4. Guy J - Lamur. I feel like I am in heaven when I’m listening to this track.
5. Cid Inc - Sensors. All releases of Cid Inc’s music inspired me to start my own production in 2020.

What is the current state of progressive house in Russia? And how has its popularity changed over the last decade or so?

Russian progressive house sound production is on a high level and has strong positions in the world ranking, but clubbing and event management have gone deep underground. I don’t know why progressive house has become so unpopular in my country. I go against the trends and try to promote this genre: I’m hosting a radioshow “LUCHiSVETA” at the Russian internet radio Megapolis (www.megapolisnight.ru), every Sunday I invite well-known Djs to present their progressive house mixes. I am happy that my show attracts more and more attention.

https://on.soundcloud.com/7Jiec

Although you live in Russia, you've been spending some time in Sri Lanka recently, tell us about your passion for spending time there and how the music scenes from Russia to Sri Lanka differ?

Oh! Sri Lanka is a progressive-house island for sure! I visited Sri Lanka for the first time 1,5 years ago (I filmed video DJ set for my YouTube channel “Sistersweet”) and immediately fell in love with its friendly people who followed electronic music trends and created their own unique music. Do you know how often progressive house parties with the world-known headliners take place in Sri Lanka? It is happening almost every week, with huge crowds!! But it is still kept in secret for the rest of the world. That’s why I created the party calendar in Sri Lanka https://srilanka-spotlight.com to help tourists have an amazing party time on the Island.

Moving to the topic of production, when you were first getting started in production, did you have someone to teach you or are you a self-taught? What would you recommend to beginners to help with the learning curve of production?

My main advice and my personal rule is to find your mentor who can inspire you. My sound production started in 2020 with music courses on Ableton live at a Dj school. It was a pandemic time and I had enough time for studies. I am always ready to improve my sound and stay in touch with more experienced companions, ask for advice what to add or correct in a track. Making music requires full involvement, so, if you, guys, want to reach impressive results, you should be patient and spend as much time as possible working on production.

You have a new single entitled ‘Sunrise in Lanka’ out now on La Foresta Recordings. Tell us about the track and how it reflects your current sound.

Finally I found that progressive house sound that I always wanted to have in my tracks - fat kick, massive bass and atmospheric keyboard melody. The inspiration came during my last tour in Sri Lanka. It was a great party with Kasper Koman & Shai T at the seacoast, I was impressed with friendly atmosphere and nature beauty of the Island and named this track «Sunrise in Lanka». It is very symbolic that this track was released on Sri Lankan label LaForesta. It was surprise for me, I swear! You know, good labels are very demanding to the sound of the tracks. So I am happy that my sound is fit for LaForesta. I also was glad to meet the LaForesta’ recordings team and Maze28, who made the truly great remix of the track.

Let our readers have a look at your studio. What does your set-up look like? Do you favour physical gear over digital? What studio tools featured heavily in the writing of «Sunrise in Lanka»?

I prefer an ascetic home studio over fully-equipment studios. My home studio consist of MacBook pro with Ableton live (including standard plug-ins, sample packs, sounds from loopcloud), midi «M-AUDIO - Oxygen49», 2 monitors Krk Rockit5, headphones Sennheiser HD 25 and Pioneer xdj-rx console. At the final stage of production I check the sound in professional studio, which belongs to my friends, here also I record vocal and live instruments if I need it. For the «Sunrise in Lanka» I used the same equipment plus Arturia sinth. The melody created by Arturia sinth made a «Sunrise in Lanka» such a magical track.

Can you tell us how your work as a DJ has influenced your view of music, your way of listening to tracks and perhaps also, your work as a producer?

I am in clubbing since early 2000’s. Now I combine Djing and production and see dance music from both sides. When I produce my track, I meet the needs of Dj (e.g. track timing, duration of breakdown and so on) and audience needs what they want to listen to on the dancefloor. And of course I think ahead at what kind of party the track could be played.

Apart from music, what makes you happy?

It is communication that makes me happy. I like to gather with my music soul mates, we create new ideas or just have fun together. My biggest dream is to open a DJ bar on the beach, so people can come and enjoy nature, good music, share their emotions and love. You know, nothing can substitute live communication.

What does the remainder of 2023 hold for you? Anything you want to share with us?

Let me just share my love :)

I am planning to stay in progressive house niche and produce high quality music. I would love to have an opportunity to work with «The soundgarden» or «Anjunadeep» labels. The idea is to create some collaborations with a producers from these labels. I believe that if you do what you love, the magic will happen.

'Sunrise In Lanka' is available now via La Foresta Records: https://bit.ly/3E7nSLw