Meet Spiria

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Spiria. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Spiria , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

It took a long time to develop the self-esteem that we needed to pursue music together. However, by putting ourselves out there and taking risks that we were uncomfortable with, we developed the confidence that we were looking for. It’s definitely a good thing to do a lot of work behind the scenes and work on your skills and artistry, but once you know you’ve done the hard work of getting somewhat of where you want to be, just go for it! It’s so helpful as a musician to perform at open mics, join songwriter groups, or just upload music and trust that people will find something in it. You will see that your confidence and faith in your abilities blossoms when you take that leap of making yourself known.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

We are currently focused on creating our second album and making it exactly what we envisioned it to be. The songs were written over the course of a few years, and then recorded in the summer of 2024. It was a more expansive recording process than our first album that featured studio musicians and improvisation and experimentation. Johnny is working hard to mix and master the songs behind the scenes while I (Mikayla) am getting deeper into the songwriting for what will be the third album. Our single and music video “Pictures In My Head” best captures the emotional landscape we wanted to create for our second album.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The first very important skill that impacted us was performing live more often. We grew up together, and so a lot of our music stayed inside the walls of our home as we slowly grew as musicians. Taking the leap to perform was the most helpful tool imaginable, as it taught us what we are truly capable of and how we can grow.

Meeting other musicians was another essential part of our journey. Knowing that there are other people like us who pursue this purely for the fact that they love it, and also support us and our goals, has elevated our courage and passion entirely. We owe a lot to the many people around Buffalo who have given us opportunities and support.

Finally, being able to persevere and see the purpose in what we do is an essential quality to have as an artist. Sometimes there is a strong, looming feeling that none of this matters in the end, and there’s too many risks involved—but we keep going anyways. The progress we’ve seen so far has been not only rewarding but inspirational! We love creating music, and we love sharing it with others. Giving up on that would hurt more than trying and failing. Besides, “failing” is subjective depending on what your goal truly is.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

We really enjoyed hiring musicians to play on our album. Violinist Sally Schaefer, cellist Alex Cousins, and trumpeter Christian Medina all added so much to our songs in the studio while recording our second album. They were only on a few songs, but in the future we would love to collaborate even more expansively. I really enjoy arranging parts for different instruments, and it’s even better when the musician comes in and plays a better part than what I originally wrote! Collaboration is so magical. We’ve co-written with two artists now, Just Jen and Snow Cricket, for the Good Neighbors album through the Buffalo Music is Art organization. That was also an insanely fun and inspiring experience that we hope to do more of in the future!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Mike Chmiel
Connor Mink
Gia Sgro

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