Rewiring expression: how SIAS is making electronic music feel human again
Blending nature and DIY instruments, SIAS is putting movement back into electronic music
In an era when electronic music often unfolds in the isolation of laptop screens and studio walls, the Detroit-based duo SIAS is finding innovative ways to reintroduce movement and raw emotion to the process. Through songwriting and sound design, the duo uses music as a meditation on presence. At the core of their sound is a desire to break free from the confines of the digital and rediscover the physical essence of performance.
For Josias Yglesias and Haley Grant, the artists behind SIAS, music has always been rooted in a deep emotional connection. High school sweethearts turned lifelong collaborators, they began creating songs together in 10th grade, drawn in by Haley’s classical piano training and Josias’s gift for melody and storytelling. Over the years, that chemistry evolved into a distinctive sound: emotionally rich, sonically adventurous, and always grounded in a desire to connect with the world around us.
As electronic music performances are often stationary, the band wanted instruments that would make the music feel alive, not just through sound but through physical movement. “We imagined an instrument we could wear, like a guitar or keytar, but something lightweight, portable, and expressive.”
So they asked themselves a simple yet powerful question: how can electronic musicians perform with the same expressiveness and physical energy as guitarists or vocalists, without being confined to a desk or DJ table? Enter the Keylele. “The Keylele is our own little Frankenstein,” the band explains, equal parts MIDI controller, ukulele, and performance art object.
The fully wearable, 3D-printed instrument is built around the ROLI Piano M and designed to bring movement back to electronic music performance. It’s a fusion of tactile technology and physical play, representing a refusal to accept creative limitations, not only in their sound, but with the equipment they use.
Through experimentation, prototyping, and a healthy dose of curiosity, SIAS built a custom 3D-printed chassis to wear Piano M like a keytar and integrated other components: a KORG NanoKontrol2 for parameter control, and a Leap Motion sensor, which responds to hand movements in midair and converts them into MIDI data.
“ROLI instruments have completely changed our sound palette. From the moment we discovered and held the Lightpad Block at the Apple Store in 2016, we’ve been hooked,” they explain. “The Lightpad, Piano M, and Equator2 allow for nuanced expression that feels more like playing a stringed instrument than a keyboard. They’ve bridged the gap between electronic production and physical expression, and that’s everything to us. They make electronic music feel alive.”
While the Keylele is a headline-worthy feat of music technology, it’s just one piece of a much larger creative puzzle. SIAS has quietly built a body of work that merges pop songwriting with boundary-pushing production, earning them festival appearances at EDC Mexico, SXSW, and Summerfest, as well as sync placements with notable brands such as Revlon, CVS, and L’Oréal.
From studio spaces to the great outdoors
At the epicenter of SIAS’s work is their Detroit home studio. It’s where they recorded their breakout EPs ORIGIN and Uncharted, and where their most recent project, Haley’s Comet, was completed just a day before their wedding. SIAS’s studio a cozy space, filled with natural light, and a reflection of their ethos, focused on intuition, experimentation, and emotional connection. Among their essential tools are Ableton Live, a pair of Yamaha HS8 monitors, a Taylor acoustic, a Gretsch hollowbody, and ROLI gear like the Lightpad Block and Piano M.
But, more than any expressive technology or DIY gear innovations, one of the most defining aspects of SIAS’s sound is the influence of nature. From writing songs and performing in Josias’ parents’ cottage on Lake Erie, to playing live on beaches, the natural world is inseparable from their music.
“We’ve written some of our most personal lyrics at Josias’ parents’ cottage on Lake Erie, a place we’ve been lucky to escape to since we were kids, and where we got married.” For SIAS, nature reminds them to slow down, to listen more closely, and to take creative risks they might not take in a studio. “It’s become a core part of our process and philosophy, blending the organic and the digital, the intuitive and the technical. We care deeply about this planet, and that reverence finds its way into our music, not just in sound but in spirit.”
Making music that moves you with Equator2
SIAS’s desire to blend the digital with organic and spontaneous inspiration is exemplified on their track “Equator”, a song named after and sparked by ROLI’s hybrid software synth Equator2. While exploring its presets, they stumbled on a sound that immediately unlocked something emotional and expansive, what they describe as “a feeling of being suspended in sunlight.”
That moment became the heart of the track. It’s a perfect example of how SIAS treats sound design not as a technical process, but as a pathway to meaning. For them, Equator2 isn’t just a synth — it’s an emotional instrument, a canvas for storytelling.
“Equator2 is inspiring because it’s expressive and deep. You can get lost in sound design, but also just play and let it guide emotion. It’s intuitive, organic, and expansive, all things that really matter to us in our music.”
touch grass: a soft rebellion
That emotional core is especially present in their upcoming single, “touch grass”, out July 25. Inspired by burnout, overstimulation, and a touch of modern cynicism, the track began, fittingly, as a meme reference. But it quickly grew into something more profound, a creative manifesto about slowing down, breathing deeply, and reconnecting with what’s real.
It’s also, notably, a song recorded largely outdoors. The percussion includes a bamboo snare captured in a Hawaiian forest. The guitar is clean, the synths soft, and the vocals are mostly improvised, left raw to preserve its immediacy. “The song is both a message to the world and a reminder to ourselves to slow down and reconnect with what’s real.”
The Keylele’s role in touch grass is symbolic as well as functional. Its physicality represents the same drive behind the song itself, the urge to step away from abstraction, to root electronic music in the body and the present moment.
The future is expressive, and it moves
For SIAS, portable instruments have made a world of difference to the music they create. “They’ve made us more creative and less precious. Being able to make music anywhere, on a beach, in a van, in a hotel, or under the stars, keeps the process fun and us inspired. Portable instruments help us break routine, which is where some of our best ideas come from.”
They also encourage other artists to adopt a similar approach in making their tools more accessible. Remove the traditional (often stationary) barriers to creativity and try something new, and that includes stepping out of the studio.
“Use portable instruments and set-ups you can take anywhere. Don't be afraid to make music outside of the traditional studio environment. Simplify your process and reduce the steps it takes to create so music-making feels approachable rather than intimidating. Many people don't realize that we essentially have full music studios on our phones with apps like ROLI Noise, Ableton Note, and KORG Gadget, which allow us to produce music wherever we are.”
For producers, songwriters, and performers looking to reclaim movement and spontaneity in their own work, SIAS has some simple advice: don’t wait for perfection. Use the tools you have, and start creating now, in nature, in motion, in imperfection.
“The more you involve your body in the creative process, the deeper the connection will be between you, your music, and your audience.”
Today’s tools, from ROLI Piano M to mobile DAWs and gesture-based controllers, offer unprecedented opportunities to create anywhere. But the technology alone isn’t what makes SIAS’s work so compelling. It’s their mindset: a refusal to settle for the static and a willingness to build their own path, sometimes quite literally.
In the Keylele, SIAS has forged a new way to move through music. One that’s not only expressive and inventive, but plays to our intrinsic human need to move and make connections. And in a digital age that often forgets the body, that might just be the most radical act of all.
Step out of the studio
Feeling inspired to take your music outside of the studio this summer? Take a leaf out of SIAS's book and touch some grass, with Piano M by your side. Whether you're in your local park, exploring woodlands or enjoying a coastal getaway, capture inspiration wherever it strikes with a compact and ultra-expressive MIDI keyboard controller.
Discover more from SIAS on Instagram, YouTube, and their official website, and pre-save their up-coming single 'touch grass'.
