How "600 Little Soundbites" Helped Mend The Rift Between Caiti Baker & Her Dad

Darwin's Caiti Baker may be a buzz act in Australian R&B, but she's no newcomer. She fronted Sietta, the tropical electro-soul outfit aligned with Elefant Traks.

Last August, Baker issued her debut solo single, Heavy On My Heart, signalling a new stompin' retro-nuevo soul direction. She's followed with Make Your Own Mistakes. Baker will drop an album "hopefully mid-this year" via Perambulator Records. The singer-songwriter has been cutting it with producer James Mangohig, her Sietta cohort, plus Skinnyfish Music's Michael Hohnen. However, inspiration has come from Baker's father, and legendary blues muso, Greg. "It all really started when I reconnected with my father, who I stopped talking to for about four years," Baker shares. "We had a break, a little falling out. And then, when we reunited, he bestowed upon us a USB key that was filled with roughly 600 little soundbites of guitar samples and harmonica licks and drum patterns. He handed it to James and said, 'Here, do whatever you want to do with this.' James opened it up and thought, 'Wow, this is pretty integral - a whole bunch of samples that I don't have to clear!' They were all originals. So he started making production out of that."

"I just remember looking at his skin surface and being like, 'There are no women on your skin!'"

Beyond Sietta, Baker is associated with Briggs' Bad Apples fam. The MC contacted Baker to collab while recording Sheplife and, although impressed, she initially declined. "I just said that I don't really work with people I don't know." Yet Briggs persisted and he'd rework Sietta's future-gospel Let It Go. Baker features on AB Original's AMP-winning Reclaim Australia. Ostensibly, she persuaded Briggs to add an Aaliyah tattoo to his 'heroes' collection. Baker laughs, "I just remember looking at his skin surface and being like, 'There are no women on your skin!'"

Baker is touring with different live iterations. She performs as a duo with Frenzal Rhomb guitarist Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall — "a good mate". But, then, she has a band that includes members of Lowrider. Baker appeared at WOMADelaide and is supporting Guy Sebastian and Memphis great Booker T. Next, she'll hit Hunter Valley festival The Gum Ball. "I'll have the full band, which I'm really excited about."

Baker is non-committal about further Sietta activity with Mangohig. "The Sietta [project] is definitely a time and a place in our careers," she says. "We're super-proud. We absolutely love all the music that we've made... As far as bringing the band back, I'll never say never. But I honestly think the sound that I create as a solo artist with James and Michael and various other producers will always vary. So I'm not really stuck on anything."

Today, Baker's relationship with her dad is sanguine and he's enjoying her new songs. "He's super-proud. He loves them. He's very happy. He's very proud of me; very stoked to have some writing credits as well and have people hear and see what he does. It's very cool. It is a nice little circle of closure, I guess. He's still crazy and I love him."