First and foremost, Syrin is an experimental project and will always push experimentation. If you were to ask my aim in creating Syrin, I'd say that Syrin hopes to create music that will form a cohesive musical and artistic statement, be accessible without conforming and artistic without being pretentious, and expand the range and function of the guitar in an academic sense. (In other words, I’d like the notion that you can create music using nothing but a guitar and some digital know-how to be taken seriously by the snobs of the music world, but the music isn’t directed at any particular group.) Furthermore, Syrin will ultimately be a multi-media experiment incorporating with the music, poetry and art. I chose the name Syrin because of its paradoxical nature and because I liked the way it sounded. Sirens, of course, were mythological creatures that lulled sailors into a false sense of security with their voices in an attempt to crash their ships. Ironically, sirens as we know them today, however, are devices used to warn people of trouble (tornado sirens, etc.). This struck me, and I realized that it was somewhat analogous to the music I was writing. I spelled it: Syrin as a poke at bands like Korn and also as a tribute to the late great composer Claude Debussy (alla "Syrinx" for solo flute).Syrin was started a few years ago by me (James Terrell) with great help from Joey Briggs, as an independent musical outlet. The freedom of the Cakewalk software inspired much of how the music first came together. Here I could lay down as many overdubs as I wanted to and also I could edit and construct the music step by step. We began laying down ideas for songs, and since Joey and I originally intended to make a go at forming a band, early on the songs were band song ideas instead of what you see now: textural, sometimes minimalistic, ambient, folk, ethereal, electronic & electronica, experimental guitar music. Now things have progressed forward in life (as they always do) and I do Syrin as a solo project type thing. Joey and I work together on Prajna with Ian now, and Syrin has become another name for my “solo” work. The progeny of the project, so far, includes a self-titled debut record (that is quite a failure) and many a scattered, abandoned demo. The first album lacked a lot. Mostly because the aims of the project were extremely hazy during the time it was created, and partly because I lacked a lot of the knowledge and skill needed to truly make this project “work.” The record has its moments, and there are some nice tunes and some cool moments. However, overall it’s not something I’m particularly proud of. The future holds promise though. I have everything together now, and I am ready to make the aims of the project a reality.

Bands: Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Mars Volta, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Led Zeppelin, Godspeed You Black Emperor! Composers: Philip Glass, Charles Ives, Steve Reich, Igor Stravinsky, John Adams, Henry Cowell, John Corigliano, etc.