FEATURE:
Spotlight
artist and model is Caroline Miner Smith. As an artist, she trades under the name of Siiickbrain. Hailing from Carolina. Her new album, HOUNDSTOOTH, is fantastic. I am going to end with a review. I want to start out with some interviews. House of Solo spent some time with the incredible Siiickbrain:
“Touching on some of your earlier work, your 2021 song “Silence” is about toxic love. When you look back on it now, how does the song make you feel?
Luckily, my love life, as I’ve grown, has become so healthy and stable, and that’s something that takes a lot of inner work and also choosing a partner who is willing to grow with you and communicate in a positive way. I think my choices in romantic relationships in the past definitely are a reflection of what I believed I was worth, and that makes me sad. But at the same time, I think making mistakes and the wrong choices are all part of the path that leads you to making the right ones.
I love how you also slowed the tone down on your 2023 song “Liar.” What do you love most about writing from that honest, exposed place?
I love that song so much! I think it all comes down to the mood that I have surrounding the topic at the time, and bringing the emotion not only through lyrics but through production as well. It can be cathartic to lean into the melancholy feeling surrounding certain topics, but with the upcoming project, I feel that I’ve flipped certain feelings. I have to see the positive and regain control of my emotions in that way, and that’s something that I wanted to communicate through production.
You grew up in small-town North Carolina and ended up in the heart of LA. What do you love most about who you are today, and how have both worlds shaped you?
I love how growing up in North Carolina really taught me about the importance of family, and being raised on a farm around animals instilled in me the importance of being present and empathetic. Also, in the South, I was shown a lot of things that taught me who I don’t want to be. It’s a place where, unfortunately, racism and homophobia, along with the judgment of those who struggle with mental health, are still wildly prevalent.
Growing up around people like that in the community was really eye-opening and disturbing from such a young age. Seeing the impact that it made on people I hold so dear to my heart, and myself in some ways, was extremely shaping. The most important thing to me is pure humanity and respect for the real world, not just the entertainment world and the fashion space. As much as I love that, and that’s my career, if all of that were stripped away, I can say confidently that I would be the same person I am today.
We just touched on your style, which I love. It’s so important for young women especially, to know they can be whoever they want to be. If you could speak words of love to your younger self, or even young people in the industry, what would you say?
I would say keep experimenting because you’re never going to find yourself if you don’t allow yourself to make mistakes or take risks.
I started making music as a form of therapy, so naturally, it’s continued to feel that way, and I feel so lucky that I have it as an outlet. Building production with my collaborators that translates the feeling I have surrounding a topic, and listening to that as I write lyrics, helps me to process how I feel and turn it into something that feels more empowering and positive.
No matter what I may be going through, I feel that if I look at it through a different lens and process it with a different outlook, I almost always feel better and stronger after making a song that way. It sounds cliché, but it works for me.
The title of your new album Houndstooth is so personal, paying homage to your Scottish and Irish heritage. Was there any music from your childhood that your grandfather introduced to you that has impacted you?
My grandfather mainly listened to NPR, so I think I was definitely more impacted by my parents and my siblings in terms of sound. My sister played a lot of Radiohead and Imogen Heap, and I think, if anything, those artists influenced the sound the most on the project, along with others that I discovered on my own as I grew up.
Last question, your music blends so many genres. What do you love most about genre-blending, and where do you feel it could take your sound next?
I love experimenting, and I think that a lot of artists that I look up to have their own sound. So I think that just trying to do my own thing and find my own sound, which I feel like I’ve done with this project, is something I can just keep building off and continue to let evolve naturally without holding back. I’m sure that the next project will feel in a similar world, but who knows what could be next? I’m just as interested as you are to find out.xt? I’m just as interested as you are to find out”.
Let’s move to an interesting chat with The Luna Collective. I am quite new to Siiickbrain, but I am really hooked already. I do wonder if she is going to come to the U.K. at some point and play here. I would really love to see her perform:
“LUNA: “PALO SANTO” and “MURKY WATER” are glimpses into your upcoming album. I would love to hear anything that you would like to share on the project and what you wanted to explore this time around?
SIIICKBRAIN: The project ties into the topic of “MURKY WATER.” The album is called Houndstooth, which is a pattern, and it's just literally about patterns repeating themselves, whether it's politically, whether it's in the space of being a female. Honestly, I feel like everyone can relate to these patterns repeating themselves and getting stuck in certain loops. It's about breaking out. “PALO SANTO” specifically is more about bringing in the positive, and less about talking about what the unfortunate realities are that a lot of us have to face. It's more about looking forward to the future and manifesting a better one for ourselves. I think that overall, this project is not meant to be something where we're coming together and sulking in our experiences, we are taking back our power on this one. With my visuals, there's a lot of women and there's a lot of owning our own autonomy. It is literally about regaining our power back, especially serving provocative and owning our bodies and our skin. That is really important to me because I think that we should all have power over autonomy.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your femme audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
SIIICKBRAIN: I don't want it to feel like a trauma bond experience. I would rather have the project resonate with the people it’s meant to resonate with and how they perceive each song for themselves. Letting it be unique to each listener. My hope is just for people to feel a little bit less alone, and hopefully bring some uplifting, positive vibes. There is a world where we go through these things and we come out and we can still be fun and happy and own our autonomy no matter what has gone on and what has happened to us.
LUNA: Your work is very multidisciplinary. Do you approach music visually first — imagining the world, the character, the aesthetic — or does the sound come before everything else?
SIIICKBRAIN: It really depends. I feel like it's unique to each song, to be honest. I definitely, as I'm recording visuals, literally in the moment when I hear a sound, I know exactly where I want it to be and what I want it to look like with the matching visuals.
LUNA: In this current era of your music, how are you expressing yourself visually? Are there specific makeup styles, textures, or aesthetics you’ve been drawn to experimenting with lately?
SIIICKBRAIN: Something that I am experimenting with throughout the album is doing half a wig. The reason behind that is there have been some comments saying it was Skrillex hair, which shout out to Skrillex. It's actually an ode to my past self and dealing with these same patterns. No matter what I looked like, no matter how I presented myself, I've been presented with the same patterns, but in that same sense, it also shows the duality between my past self and my present self, and that also ties into houndstooth, the pattern, which is so black and white.
LUNA: Are there any visual artists, designers, or subcultures that continue to inspire your aesthetic direction?
SIIICKBRAIN: I love Rick Owens. I also have a friend named Catherine and she has a brand called Asylum, and she's a really good friend of mine. Her designs really inspired the world as well. I think that there's a lot of designers that I think are incredible, and I love fashion. I love Kim Shui. I am obsessed with the new Demna for Gucci. I think it's really cool.
LUNA: What is fueling your fire right now that’s pushing you into this new chapter in your career?
SIIICKBRAIN: I have been really paying attention to the things that I genuinely like to get in the car and put on, because I want to literally get to a place where I just want to get in my car and blast my stuff. I feel like in the past, I've really loved my music, but when I want to vibe and jam and have something positive to listen to, it's hard to put on that stuff. I want to have fun with it. I want to get in the car and listen to my own music. I want to be able to play it back-to-back with JT or something. I want it to live in that space.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
SIIICKBRAIN: I'm feeling really excited about my music, but also at the same time, it's really hard to ignore what's going on in the world. I'm trying to just find the positives, to be honest, and I think that it's really difficult, because we're faced with all these challenges that we can only control so much and we can do our part to try and keep the world moving in a better direction. But unfortunately, we're up against something really challenging and dark, and so I'm really just trying to provide more of a positive vibe to lean into. Me, myself, and my personal life, I'm really just trying to stay positive and play that happy music”.
The final interview I am including is from Metal Magazine. I am fascinated by her aesthetic and music. Siiickbrain is someone that everyone needs to know about. She is truly wonderous. Such a potent and distinct force:
“Outside of music, what has been making you feel most alive lately: a film, a place, a person, a habit, a tiny obsession?
Outside of music, I feel most alive when I’m out at night, surrounded by my friends or partner, feeling completely free and surrounded by love and good energy, and discovering new music.
Your music often sits between industrial, electronic, alternative, hip-hop and heavy sounds. Do you think in terms of genre at all, or is it more about texture and instinct?
I don’t think about genre when I make music; it’s definitely more about the feeling and what comes naturally. I think when artists get too caught up in genre, it can hold them back creatively.
You have a very recognisable vocal presence: screams, spoken moments, melody, distortion, attitude. How do you know what a song needs from your voice?
I honestly had to learn over the past few years what a song called for, rather than trying to turn it into something that I felt like it should be. It’s super easy to ruin a song with things that it doesn’t need, and it’s important to exercise that instinct.
Houndstooth feels like a very physical title: sharp, patterned, almost animalistic. What did that word unlock for you when you were building the album?
I really wanted it to reflect the themes of the album, like exactly what you said: breaking patterns and the sharp reality that comes with breaking free from old habits. When I think about my personal experience with that, it’s a lot of emotion, like strength, power, vulnerability and freedom, but also a bit of fear.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sean Behr
Filthy, featuring Fetish, sounds like it belongs to the more abrasive side of your world. What made Fetish the right person to bring into that song?
I have always loved her and how she writes and expresses herself, so when I made this song, I immediately knew I wanted to ask if she wanted to be a part of it. I also have so many hip-hop and rap elements on the project, and I thought maybe this could help listeners understand where my mind was during the recording process.
You have worked with artists from very different worlds, from Skrillex to Willow and Maggie Lindemann. What do you look for in a collaborator?
I honestly have only collaborated with friends and people that I truly love as a person, as well as the art they create. I’m very blessed for my collaborations to all feel very natural.
Compared with My Masochistic Mind, where do you feel Houndstooth is harsher, and where do you feel it is more vulnerable?
I think they both have vulnerable elements and elements that come from a place of expelling emotion and expressing them in different ways, whether it is lyricism, vocal delivery or production. I do, however, think Houndstooth is more fun and energetic.
There is a lot of intensity in your work, but also humour, confidence and playfulness in the way you inhabit your persona. What do people often misunderstand about you?
People think I’m much rougher around the edges when it comes to my personality before they meet me. That’s something I hear all the time, and I fully understand why. But my music is still so me; it is just where I feel safe enough to let my emotion out, rather than vulnerably in a conversation or room with someone I have just met. But I have always been this way: I keep those things tucked away”.
I am going to finish with Out of Rage and their review of HOUNDSTOOTH. They awarded it eight out of ten. If you have not heard the album yet, I would recommend you give it a listen. It is one of the best albums of this year I think:
“With HOUNDSTOOTH, SIIICKBRAIN builds a record that feels like stepping into a dark, sweat-soaked room and letting the walls close around you. It is abrasive, hazy, clubby, vulnerable, and strange in all the right ways, pulling from industrial grit, electronic production, hip-hop beats, alternative pop structures, and something far more instinctive. It never feels interested in sitting neatly within one sound, and that restlessness becomes part of its identity.
The album opens with a short, haunting intro, almost mechanical in its delivery, declaring “this is the sound of breaking the loop” before launching straight into PALO SANTO. It is an effective introduction to the world SIIICKBRAIN is creating here, immediately pairing rave-like instrumentals with softer, more ghostly vocals. That contrast becomes one of the album’s biggest strengths. There is a constant push and pull between aggression and fragility, between control and collapse, and HOUNDSTOOTH often feels most powerful when those sides are allowed to clash. FILTHY, featuring FETISH, is a standout example, carrying a sense of intoxicating danger that made it such a strong single before the album’s release. Its heavy, industrial-leaning production and club-ready pulse make it feel grimy and physical, with punchy drums and distortion giving the track a razor-sharp edge. SIIICKBRAIN’s vocals sit somewhere between seduction and menace, making the title feel deliberate rather than decorative.
DELICATE is another example of that masterful tension. Built around a trap-leaning, hip-hop influenced beat, it starts with a vulnerability that feels bruised but not passive. Lines like “they promised it all, left me worse than before, I did what was told but they just wanted more” are open enough to be read through multiple lenses, whether that is toxic love, exploitative friendships, or the pressure of industries built on image and consumption. As the track progresses, SIIICKBRAIN delivers “I’m tired of being the victim”, with the vocals eventually becoming harsher and more forceful, cutting against the softness suggested by the title. By the end, this track feels less like a confession and more like a breaking point. That sense of taking power back runs throughout the whole album.
There are repeated images of godhood across HOUNDSTOOTH, not in a hollow, ego-driven way, but as a kind of survival mantra. On I WOKE UP ALIVE, the repetition of “I am a god” lands with a ritualistic force, as though saying it enough times might make it feel real. It taps into the wider emotional thread of the record: reclaiming autonomy, rewriting old patterns, and finding empowerment not through easy triumph, but through confrontation.
Elsewhere, HER introduces one of the album’s more accessible moments, with a chorus that almost leans into pop. In another context, that might soften the record too much, but here it works surprisingly well against the layered electronic details surrounding it. It is arguably one of the lighter-sounding tracks on the album, but still feels distinctly tied to the same world, never losing the eerie, off-kilter quality that makes HOUNDSTOOTH so compelling. By the time closing track FAWN arrives, the album pulls back slightly from some of its denser moments, but without losing any of its atmosphere. It feels darkly cinematic and shadowy, letting the record fade out with tension rather than closure.
While each track holds its own, HOUNDSTOOTH is especially rewarding when listened to in full. Across the album, SIIICKBRAIN creates a world that is confrontational, contradictory, and occasionally uncomfortable, but still deeply magnetic. Some moments are more disjointed than others, though that never feels like a flaw. If anything, it suits a record built around shedding old versions of the self and refusing to be made smaller. HOUNDSTOOTH”.
I shall leave things there. Go and follow the tremendous Siiickbrain. She is gathering a lot of momentum. I am not sure how well she is known in the U.K., but I know she has a huge following in the U.S. I am very new to her work so am making up for some lost time. I am definitely now a fan…
OF the awesome Siiickbrain.
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