4/12/2023

Psych-folk artist Mariee Siou shares title track & video from forthcoming EP, 'Circle of Signs'

PSYCH-FOLK SINGER-SONGWRITER

MARIEE SIOU

PENS LOVE LETTER TO CALIFORNIA

& REFLECTS ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS WITH

TITLE TRACK & VIDEO

"CIRCLE OF SIGNS"

FROM FORTHCOMING EP

OUT NOW


LISTEN HERE WATCH HERE


Debut exclusively via Brooklyn Vegan




THE SELF-PRODUCED EP

CIRCLE OF SIGNS

IS DUE OUT APRIL 28


PRE-ORDER THE EP HERE


SEE MARIEE SIOU LIVE

THIS MAY ALONG THE WEST COAST

WITH ADDITIONAL DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED


GET TICKETS HERE


"The power of Siou’s songs stems largely from her poetic know-how—glimmering prose uplifted by Siou’s multi-hued falsetto, and backed by gentle acoustic guitar."

"Mariee Siou blurs the lines between waking and sleeping as smoothly as the twilight, and 'Grief in Exile' engages the senses, the imagination, and the heart in truly transcendental ways."

"Mariee makes delicate, tucked-away folk music that recalls cult '60s/'70s artists like Vashti Bunyan, with dream-like elements that have gained her comparisons to Mazzy Star."

Photo credit: Nicolas Stokes 

Today, psych-folk singer-songwriter Mariee Siou shares the layered, sweeping title trackout everywhere now, with its accompanying video, from her forthcoming self-produced, hypnotic EP Circle of Signs due out April 28 and available for pre-order now. The title track is a love letter to California as it explores the catastrophic effects of climate change and acts as a prayer that reflects on indigenous prophecies. Brooklyn Vegan, who debuted the single, calls it "delicate, atmospheric folk song with layers of saxophone." Plus, the prolific singer-songwriter will hit the road this May across the West Coast with support from Kacey Johansing on several dates. See a full list of dates below and get tickets here.


Written over the course of a few years, and half in the wake of the historic Sonoma fire in 2017, the title track out today reflects on the ongoing climate disaster–from floods to droughts to fires–that continuously plague many parts of the world including Siou's home state of California. In an interview with Brooklyn Vegan, Siou says, "This song is a prayer that begs us to heed these warnings from the earth body and reflect on indigenous prophecies from different nations around the world, which speak of the time of The Great Shift." Siou ponders humanity's fast-paced current path, filled with consumption, capitalism and technology, that only further ravages the planet. She continues,"A time when we will be given two paths to walk as human beings, where we must choose whether we continue on the path of acceleration, disconnection and technology, or take the other path back into the right relationship with the earth once again." Delving into the rich lyrical content, Siou says, "The lyrics ask if we will ever humble ourselves and learn from our mistakes as a species, whose human superiority complex is causing change and destruction to our planetary home at a pace that is beyond comprehension." 


"I had just left Sonoma hours before the fires broke out." Siou recalls of the 2017 wildfires that she had narrowly escaped and became inspiration for the track. "I had been playing a concert there and spooky 70 mph wind gusts were causing the power to go on and off at the outdoor venue. Seeing footage the next day of where we had been the night before was truly haunting, and was when I began parts of the lyrics." Siou describes the feeling the track elicits as, "sparse yet urgent and mournful, like someone singing out for the rain in a dire time amongst flames." She continues, "There are layers of soprano saxophone behind most of the track played by virtuoso Patrick McGee, which carries the song with sweeping harmonies and padded atmosphere as if winds were clearing smoky air."


The creation of the track progressed when more deadly fires claimed lives and homes in California. Siou says, "More of the words came together the next year when, just an hour from where I was living, the nightmarish fire of Paradise broke out and burned, killing 85 people and destroying over 13k homes. The disaster filled the air with a smoke so thick it was almost purple, and no one could go outside for days." It was this horrifying time that encouraged Siou to funnel her profound grief into song.


The track's accompanying video, directed by Samantha Shay, captures the climate grief and hopelessness evoked in the song. Shay says, "Circle of Signs is a piece about the wildfires rampaging through California, but so much more. It is about climate grief, the hopeless situation capitalism and colonialism has left the planet and youth to take on.Further emphasizing the urgency of the issue, Shay casted a teenager to star in the video, both to underscore the suppression of youth voices and as a stark reminder that this is the Earth they are inheriting. Shay adds, "I decided to collaborate with a teenager on the entire creative trajectory. It was a tremendous learning experience. Seraphia Behr is 15 and stars in the film, is a first time actor, and we created the ideas and images together. In this piece, I somehow felt how the suppression of natural burning forests equated to the suppression of the voices of the youth. 


The video highlights the teen experience, the deep uncertainty of the future, and also highlights the work of many female artists. Shay continues, "Somehow, Seraphia is California embodied, struggling with and ultimately reclaiming her wildness, her beauty, her insecurities, her vision for her future, and the lineage of women she comes from. I learned a lot. It was an honor to make this piece for Mariee, and I also got to bring together many amazing female artists whose work is featured in this piece."


Watch "Circle of Signs" (Official Music Video)


The highly anticipated EP, Circle of Signs, explores the grief that comes with the current, various political, cultural and environmental disasters. Over four poignant tracks, Siou reckons with living within a system that deepens inequality and accelerates the global climate emergency and through lyrics and song, offers a path toward healing and attempts to maintain hope of a brighter future.


Siou says the collection of songs is, "an expression of and an invitation to the grief and perplexing questions that must necessarily be faced in acknowledgment of our true selves in the face of our current catastrophic, cultural, political and environmental inheritances—grief as the portal into healing, and which is itself a subversive process in an industrial-capitalist-consumerist climate in which to love oneself is itself an act of subversion." 


Through the EP, Siou speaks directly to the dire need in the modern world for us to reconnect with older and more honest ways of relating to ourselves; to our human and nonhuman kin; to the natural environmental cycles which sustain us and our extended Earth-family; and to the cultures, songs and lives that lie at the interface between all of these interwoven realities.


Circle of Signs was recorded in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in the spring of 2022 and was engineered by Oz Fritz (Tom Waits Mule Variations, Blood Money) and produced by Siou. The recordings on this EP are built around Mariee’s signature acoustic fingerpicking and voice, but with the introduction of soprano saxophone and various winds played by virtuoso Patrick McGee—creating a windscape: horns and flutes are interlaced with strong percussion, voice and guitars, creating space and cushioning for Mariee’s eco-mystic poetry to weave through and be given lift by.


Today's release follows the previously shared, "Snake Hoop," a track that was born out of an ayahuasca ceremony that led the artist to discover more of herself and a new understanding of life and death. During the ceremony, Siou explains, "I experienced walking the scales of the ouroboros and faced my own death. I felt and saw all the energy of creation as endless and eternal cycles and was overcome with a deep reassurance in that knowing. It seemed my spirit was smiling at the beauty and necessity of death for the existence of life, and had aligned with the light of the stars. After the ceremony, I went out into the early dawn, in the forest of the Sierra foothills, and began humming this melody in the breaking of a new day."


Delving into the sonic qualities of the track, Siou continues, "The song carries a cyclical, rhythmic sound that almost feels like a chant through a kind of ethereal, mythic-folk-rock, that brings in soft lilting qualities like flutes and tinkling piano played by Patrick Mcgee, that ebb and flow while high harmonies in the chorus dance through the hypnotic melody."


Lyrically, the track paints a vivid picture of both the more recent atrocities of racism in America, and its heinous history. Siou explains, "While the lyrics were written while George Floyd protests were raging around the world (“Been acquainted with apparitions in the night, hoods sewn from the gaunt waving stripes”), the track reflects on America’s haunting foundation of racism and slavery, the continued brutality to people of color in America today, and the cycles of violence and destruction also found within creation and thus humankind as well."


Its accompanying stop-motion video, directed, filmed and edited by Chloe Becky, illustrates the track using handmade clay figures. Throughout the visual are references to mortality, time, death and rebirth using a miniature snake made from braided rope. Further explaining the thought and detail behind the video, Becky says “The imagery of the ouroboros or snake eating its tail is an ancient symbol of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The somewhat human character represents mortality and greets the snake with embrace and without fear." The director continues, "The bird-like character is in reference to the crow which many cultures believe represents the afterlife, destiny, or transformation. It turns the hour glass and pulls at the string of the mortal being’s fabric, unraveling them until its fibers are spread all around. To me, the song reminds us that death and life are one and the same.“


Since Siou's official, captivating debut album Face in The Rocks in 2007, the artist has continually captured the attention of several leading tastemakers. BrooklynVegan wrote about the debut, "It's a delicate, flute-filled psychedelic folk album with finger picked guitar and airy vocals recalling the work of rediscovered '60s/'70s artists like Vashti Bunyan and Linda Perhacs." They added about her 2012 effort Grief In Exile"'Grief In Exile' will almost definitely appeal to fans of Mazzy Star and Joanna Newsom (and Marissa Nadler), and it's as consistently strong as just about anything she's done prior."


Mariee Siou was raised on a farm in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the Yuba River watershed in Northern California. Born to a father in a bluegrass band, Siou was always surrounded by music and taught herself to play the guitar at 18 while volunteering at a school for Mapuche children in Patagonia. In 2007, she released her first studio album, Faces in the Rocks, on which she collaborated with Native American flautist Gentle Thunder and which achieved a dedicated cult following that would propel her career to this day. She began touring Europe, as well as North America, after being invited to open for the psych jam band Bright Black Morning Light on their nationwide tour that year, and later toured with Hope SandovalMazzy Star in 2013 and extensively toured Europe and the US headlining and has opened for other acclaimed artists such as Joanna Newsom, Buffy Sainte MarieFrank Black, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.


PopMatters lauded about the commanding singer-songwriter, "[Siou is] constantly rising to the challenge of making a holistically moving record." They continue, "Surface-level descriptions fall especially short with Mariee Siou, whose poetry is as much about performance as it is about music and lyrics. To listen to 'Grief in Exile' is to dream a lucid dream." Similarly, Bandcamp praised her poetic talent, "The power of Siou’s songs stems largely from her poetic know-how—glimmering prose uplifted by Siou’s multi-hued falsetto, and backed by gentle acoustic guitar."


Now, in 2023, Siou is ready to push boundaries yet again and expand her profound sonic world, building on nearly two decades of her meaningful, momentous artistry. The prolific singer-songwriter will perform live along the West Coast this May, including in Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA and in Portland, OR, featuring support from Kacey Johansing on several dates. Grab tickets now here, see a full list of dates below, and stay tuned for additional shows to be announced.


The compelling title track and its video from Mariee Siou's forthcoming EP Circle of Signs is out everywhere now. The song sees Siou process and grieve the catastrophic effects climate change that have continuously ravaged her home state of California. Circle of Signs, the forthcoming riveting, self-produced EP by Mariee Siou is due out April 28 is available to pre-order now. See Siou live this May along the East Coast with tickets available now here. Connect with Mariee Siou on InstagramFacebook and YouTube and stay tuned for much more to come from the psych-folk musician.


Listen: "Snake Hoop" | Watch

Mariee Siou Live 2023


May 12 - Boulder Creek, CA - Lille Aaeske*

May 13 - Carpinteria, CA - Sweet Mountaintop Farm^

May 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Ghengis Khan

May 19 - Berkeley, CA - Ashkenaz^

May 21 - Nevada City, CA - Miner's Foundry^

May 24 - Olympia, WA - New Traditions Fair Trade^

May 25 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern^

May 26 - Portland, OR - The Old Church^


*Solo set

^ w/ Kacey Johansing



More dates to be announced

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