demos

Sylvia, includes two tracks, written individually and recorded together.

Sylvia I, written and composed by Just Janie, is a response to reading Sylvia Plath’s poetry collection 'Ariel'. After picking up the collection at Scorpio Books in Ōtautahi and feeling drawn in from the two cover lines: ‘I rise with my red hair, and eat men like air’, Janie was flawed by the collection.  This is a song to deal with the trauma of reading Sylvia Plath.

Sylvia II, written and composed by Sig Wilder, is a response to reading Sylvia Legris's poetry collection *Garden Physic*. With each page Sig, who is also a gardener, discovered a wealth of complex plant references and horticultural histories. He was inspired by the botanical glossolalia seemingly of Sylvia's own invention and the collection's ability to create music from language. 'How to write about flowers without the nauseating sentimental phraseology?' Legris writes. This song is an exploration of the language of plants and the
haunting relationship between poet and reader.

Sylvia (Double Single)

From the gently rolling plains of the American Midwest to the windswept, hilly coastlines of Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa, Sig Wilder has spent a lifetime chasing something just beyond his reach, but not beyond his sight. Now, with his band Sig Wilder & Friends, he captures the process of finding your place in the world on *Cowboy Practice*, their moody debut album.

Rooted in the traditions of folk, alt-country and ambient Americana, *Cowboy Practice* is a hard-won series of reflections on homesickness, resilience, and becoming. Born in a small town outside St. Louis, Missouri, and shaped by years spent in Austin, Melbourne and his new home, Sig’s songwriting carries the weathered grace of a handwritten journal—full of cracked memories, quiet revelations, and dust-kicked hope. Tracked between Lincoln, Nebraska and Te Whanganui-a-Tara, *Cowboy Practice* is adorned with spare slide guitar, harmonica, warm vocal harmonies, and the easy pull of a rolling rhythm section. Across songs like “Stop Myself,” “Texasman,” and “Light Tower,” Sig holds a cracked mirror to the long, slow work of making sense of who we are.

Together with Mads Taylor, Tessa Dillon and Sofia Machray, Sig Wilder & Friends have become fixtures of Wellington’s D.I.Y. music community. As Sig reflects, “*Cowboy Practice* is about becoming content with who I am. That’s how it started, and I am in no way finished on that journey. But I’m happy with the cowboy that I’ve become, regardless of any notions of how one “should” be a cowboy.” 

released August 1, 2025

Recorded at The Grid Studio in Lincoln, Nebraska and Lunchbox Studio in Wellington, New Zealand.
All songs written and produced by Matthew Campbell (Sig Wilder) and Ruby Leonard
Mixed by Philip Zach at The Grid Studio
Additional Mixing by Matthew Campbell (track 6) and Emily Wheatcroft-Snape (track 4)
All parts performed by Matthew Campbell
Additional Vocals by Mads Taylor (track 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10), Elias Davies (track 7), and Janie Shaw (track 4)
Additional Piano by Philip Daniel
Additional Bass Guitar & Drums by Philip Zach
Pre-production support from Adrianna Miranda, Ella Salome, Floyd Graham, and Zech Campbell
Music video for 'Stop Myself' by Collin Cook
Music video for 'Texasman' and 'Slow Time' by Taylor Nixon
Many thanks to Rangi Aniwaniwa, Courtney Ilton, Tasha Tziakis, Martyn Pepperell, Jake Ingram, Mary Catherine Cook, Tessa Dillon, Sofia Machray, and Barney Johnson
Album cover photo by Ruby Leonard
Mastered by Joshua Llewellyn at Downbeat Mastering in Auckland, New Zealand
Support from Home Alone Records

Cowboy Practice

So they told me
Pack it up
Do you mean?
Everything I love?
I was born to take your word
But oh how time flies
I wear earnest
Fits like a glove
Oh come over and see it
I’ll take it off

I oughta stop myself
Said enough

Sing along
Move your lips the same way
Pipe up
From your feet to your hips just sway
Let your body go
With the congregation
Don’t need no accessory
Don’t need no horse and gun
Oh by definition
We’re the same
And without the stetson
Still a cowboy all the way

I oughta stop myself
Said enough

Vocals, Guitar, Slide: Sig Wilder
Vocals & Artwork: Mads Taylor
Piano, Keys, Organ: Philip Daniel
Bass, Guitars, Keys, Drums: Philip Zach
Mixing: Philip Zach at The Grid Studio
Co-written by Sig Wilder & Ruby Leonard

Many thanks to Kei, Adrianna Miranda, Ella Davies, Floyd Graham, Ella Salome and Zech Campbell for helping this song along it's journey.

Stop Myself

Texasman V1 from Cowboy Practice - first round of mixes after 4 days in the studio - not mastered

desert house
big city dreams down the highway
cats in crowds
chris and caro are gone today
so we lay out
with the scorpions in the burweed
close our eyes
dream a life

evening sun
you feel it well past 9 o clock
two bedrooms
packed with all 5 of us
morning heat
good morning another day to believe
texasman
texasman
I’m looking up at your highlights
down here pining the spotlight

truth is love
the truth is on the other side
I still can’t reach
still some dull shade of green

coolest crush
I’d ever seen
coolest cuzz
don’t turn back on me
that youthful buzz mmm
oh come back to me

texasman_v1

verandah_experimentaldemo

Light Tower V2

Working on a song for a wedding. Voice memo demo.

In These Halls voice memo demo

slowlane_demo

Alt-country band Sig Wilder & Friends are returning sonically to the hometown of songwriter & front-man Sig Wilder with the new track, Light Tower.

Though Sig now calls Aotearoa home, he was born and raised in small town Missouri, in the Midwest United States. It took moving to the other side of the world for him to embrace the southern Americana sound that he spent his early career resisting. Sig Wilder & Friends is his love letter to the music that raised him, and, by extension, to his hometown.

'Light Tower' is the second single from Sig Wilder & Friends, and explores the complexity of growing up in a small town, leaving too young, and finding yourself irrevocably changed when you return. The song touches on themes of loneliness, insecurity, and loss, but ultimately regards acceptance.

lyrics
It's never in my waking hour
When I can admit “i'm not
giving myself enough”

Settled up above the cream
Floats a man just like me
Singing his praise again

He’s looking for the light tower
Criticizing the movie
Says he looks nothing like me

It’s never how you want it
Never when you need it
Dusty windows behind you
No sunset to drive into
Where was it when I needed fuel?
I got high on approval
I’m clean out of those fumes

Never in my wildest dreams
Would I try to open up
the door I found at the top

Hidden where the bottom fish feed
Diamonds and pearls
Give em a whirl

I’d like to say “I have what it takes”
I can’t accept that I’m
Surrounded by water
Surrounded by what I am
Surrounded by what I am
Surrounded by what I am

credits
Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keys, Drums: Sig Wilder
Vocals & Artwork: Mads Taylor
Mixing: Philip Zach at The Grid Studio
Mastering: Joshua Llewellyn at Downbeat Mastering
Co-written by Sig Wilder & Ruby Leonard

Many thanks also to Kei, Adrianna Miranda, Ella Davies, Floyd Graham, Mary Catherine Cook, Zech Campbell, and Terri Campbell for helping this song along its journey.

Light Tower

Texasman is about the past - about youth and its tendency to slip away. The song concerns the time I lived in Austin with an indie pop band. We were living far away from home with big plans and dreams. The Texas man in the song is the one and only Willie Nelson.
-Sig

desert house
big city dreams down the highway
cats in crowds
chris and caro are gone today
so we lay out
with the scorpions in the burweed
close our eyes
dream a life

evening sun
you feel it well past 9 o clock
two bedrooms
packed with all 5 of us
morning heat
good morning another day to believe

texasman
texasman
I’m looking up at your highlights
down here pining the spotlight
truth is love
the truth is on the other side
I still can’t reach
still some dull shade of green

coolest crush
I’d ever seen
coolest cuzz
don’t turn back on me
that youthful buzz mmm
oh come back to me

credits
released October 27, 2023
Vocals, Guitar: Sig Wilder
Artwork: Mads Taylor
Bass, Drums, Keys, & Mixing: Philip Zach at The Grid Studio
Mastering: Joshua Llewellyn at Downbeat Mastering
Co-written by Sig Wilder & Ruby Leonard

Many thanks to Adam, Kg, Collin, Sami and Zech for those formative years. Also to Kei Heke, Adrianna Miranda, Ella Davies, Floyd Graham, Clark Roworth, Taylor Nixon and Willie Nelson for helping this song along its journey.

Sig Wilder & Friends

Pinned to spotlight

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