Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Samfire
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Music started for me as as something public, something shared – the CDs my family listened to on the drive to school, the songs me and my cousins choreographed our childhoods to. Always singing along. It’s hard to pinpoint one moment because music has been a constant. I was learning classical violin from the age of 4, and with 2 older siblings on the same path, music had always rung through the walls of my house – whether it was something we were performing or simply enjoying.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
It began with singing – long before I wrote anything. Singing was what I did when I was happy; it was the thing that felt most natural to me. After one school assembly, my music teacher spoke to my parents and suggested I take lessons, and that was that. From there I sang whenever I could: I did grades, performed in school plays, joined the choir and nervously pushed myself toward any stage that would have me. It made me feel myself. It just made me happy.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
It’s difficult to work out what you’re sound is. You learn and lean into other people’s ideas as you grow. But this time I wanted to make something that was wholly mine. And so, I am currently working on new music that I have produced alone. It’s gonna be a long process – currently it’s an album but whether I’m ready for an album is a different question. It may be something I have to sit on a while till I grow my audience
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
I make intimate alt-pop that blends organic and electronic worlds. Everything starts with the songwriting for me; the production is there to honour the emotion, not to hide it. Expect raw confessions woven together with unexpected sonic details that keep the songs feeling alive and slightly otherworldly.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
That songs need time to breathe. The writing of them is often quick but what comes after is equally important. Sometimes it takes months, even years, for that song to find the right place. For it to fit into something bigger than itself. But If a song stays with you for that long, it will find it’s place someday.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
I write at my piano, though very occasionally I reach for an acoustic guitar. There’s something grounding and necessary about starting with something purely organic. Next, Ableton is where my songs take shape – it’s the space where I experiment, layer textures, and build the world around the lyrics. Once I’ve opened up a session I’ll usually get out my my Korg Minilogue XD. It’s such a versatile synth and I use it for everything from warm pads, to heavy bass sounds and twinkly leads. Together, those tools help me merge the organic and electronic sides of my music.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
I’m really loving Etta Marcus at the moment – there’s something so cinematic and quietly intense about her songwriting that I find really inspiring. Her music feels intimate but still expansive, like it lives in its own little world.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Everything I write comes from lived experience – not always literally, but emotionally. I process life through lyrics, always trying to capture a feeling of being slightly out of place, slightly in awe, slightly afraid, but still hopeful. That tension is where I live creatively. It’s my confession.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
That it’s okay not to have the answers. That vulnerability isn’t weakness. That the quietest feelings can be the most powerful ones. And that your inner world (the part no one sees) is worth listening to.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That the music is the only thing you can control. Not the outcome, not the numbers, not the industry. Just the music. And if you’ve learnt something in the process and are proud of what you made, that’s what will last.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Dream big – Alexandra Palace. It’s mythic to me. I’ve seen so many artists I love there: Charli XCX, Lorde, Overmono, even Samia (as a support). There’s something about that space, the way the room holds both grandeur and intimacy, that makes it feel like the perfect home for the kind of emotional world my music lives in.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Justin Vernon is my current answer for this. I’m endlessly fascinated by how he creates emotion from texture, space, and unexpected left turns. His production feels like stepping into another reality. I’d love to learn how he builds that world.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
I’m Samfire.
Spotify: Samfire (https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vefVhH6K5BRYw91hgFLLz?si=oZZp848zSS6f206d2AQXWw)
Apple Music: Samfire (https://music.apple.com/us/artist/samfire/1566628836)
Instagram & TikTok: @soundofsamfire
Website: https://soundofsamfire.com/
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
My dream is simply to keep dreaming. I don’t think I’ll ever be finished figuring out what I want or working for some greater potential, and that’s the part I love. If the next chapter brings bigger stages, deeper stories, and a closer connection with the people who find my music, then that’s more than enough. I just want to keep creating with honesty and stay in motion.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I hope they realise that I’m a work in progress – never quite the same from one song to the next. My music is a record of my growth, the quiet moments and the loud ones, the fears and the tiny triumphs. If they hear that evolution, if they recognise that I’m searching just as much as they are, then they’ll know me more truthfully than any biography ever could.
