Bellingen-based duo Saije took a moment to run us through the conception, inspiration, and metaphors of their recent 5-track EP Kindred. A beautifully crafted and ambient body of work, Kindred explores a multitude of dichotomies: trauma and healing, climate change and community, struggle and self-love.
Shanteya and Jo of Saije unpack the ethereal and sweeping tracks of their latest EP Kindred, discussing activism, health issues and blessings in disguise.
Kindred
This first song was written about gathering as community, with open hearts and minds, and recognizing that we are all “kindred”. It is about creating a space where we can come together in nature from all walks of life, each having our own place in the circle and honouring all that the natural world gives to us.
We were both born and raised in a small town on the Mid North Coast of NSW called Bellingen. It is surrounded by stunning natural landscapes which we feel extremely connected to and have spent a lot of time in growing up. This song is recounting some memories and simply celebrating the beauty of the natural world and community that we are immersed in.
It was also written with an undercurrent of environmental activism as we, like many others, are feeling deep grief regarding the impacts of climate change and an urgency to come together and connect with this reality. We must raise our collective voice to “call out”, stand up for the health of this amazing planet, and move away from an anthropocentric mindset to acknowledge and respect our place in the ecosystem.
Come As You Are
Come As You Are was written from the depths. It is about learning to love oneself through the challenges and difficulties that we face. We are often extremely hard on ourselves, criticising and focusing on the things that we don’t like. Our society tends to feed these judgemental attitudes, promoting unattainable standards that leave so many of us feeling inadequate.
I myself (Shanteya) was having a lot of trouble with my health. With this came struggles that rippled out into my life in many directions. An undercurrent of it all was a constant feeling of not being good enough, not being able to reach my potential, being judged or misunderstood, and simply not having the energy to be my true self.
Of course, like all experiences, there were blessings in disguise and lessons learned. These included an insight into how to create healthy boundaries for myself, and to slowly find my way to understanding the importance of self-love and self-care.
I wrote this song to help call me back to this place. We hope that it can help to act as a reminder for you all too, to be kind, gentle, and loving towards yourself, to show up for yourself in ALL of your layers, and to simply Come As You Are, and know that is enough.
Grace
Grace fell out of our hearts in the early hours of the morning. Written easily in one go, as it had been brewing within and waiting to be released for a while. It is about healing trauma and pain. It is about calling your soul back to your body. About showing up for yourself, feeling what needs to be felt so you can let it go and be free of the burden; so you can feel yourself grounded, whole, safe and present in your body once again. Inspired by the movement and cleansing nature of the river; how it flows and shapes the land, always moving, ever changing. This is our song Grace and you can check out the live video below.
Into the Valley
This instrumental track is an introduction to The Valley. The music was inspired by the the whirlpool of emotions that can be felt when facing big life changes and decisions.
The Valley
The Valley is about coming to a crossroads in your life and needing to decide which path is going to serve you best moving forward. It is about feeling torn between multiple different directions and trying to gain clarity on what you truly value and want to consciously prioritise.
It was written at a time when I (Jo) was juggling two very different lives of studying Environmental Engineering and being a touring folk musician. I was constantly feeling like there wasn’t enough space to truly fulfill any one thing that I was doing to the level that I wanted; everything was being compromised to some degree and I was getting very burnt out and struggling not having enough time for my loved ones, my art and other daily practices that bring me joy. Through this time, I felt the need to revaluate what serves me most in life and makes me deeply happy and how I can contribute to making the world a better place.
The Valley is a metaphor for the unknown terrain of ups and downs that we go through in life, the high moments and the dips and valleys that we traverse; all crucial for our learning process and to help us gain insight into what we truly need, while letting go of all that doesn’t serve us.
Dive into the sound healing of Saije on all streaming platforms now.
