The Saga X Fresh Off The Scene
Interview and photos by: Lara Ann Schumacher
How would you describe your music? And how did it happen for you to go into this niche?
I would describe it as „cinematic, glitter morbid, witchy folk music“, so very uniquely me! I got into this kind of music mainly because of my roots, growing up in Sweden, reading fairytales ,and spending all my time in the forest. Those interests were molded at the same time as the musical side of me. When I got older and tried to understand my artistic identity as well as trying to find an artist name, It was hard. When I decided on the name “The Saga“, the whole world of it all just kinda fell into place.
And where do your inspirations and influences in this moody, witchy music come from?
Nature is always my main source of inspiration, which is why living in Berlin is a little sad, you don’t get a lot of that here. For the music I am writing right now though, rain especially plays a big role, it is basically my soul. Other than that, feelings are obviously always strong influences, especially when I’m angry or sad and feel like I have a lot to say. Most of the time, I do that through nature-related metaphors, they kind of help each other to evolve into songs.
Yeah, your connection to nature is so evident, it’s beautiful! You also have a lot of mythological references and quite a few political ones too right? Tell me more about that!
Right now it’s greek mythology that I am really interested in and therefore reference a lot, it just goes so well with the concept of this album, but norse mythology is my all-time favourite, which I can’t wait to explore in future projects. Swedish folklore as well, with it’s mythical beings it will give the music even more context. What I love about it is that you can turn mythology into your own art so easily, it’s all from so long ago that nothing is set in stone and you can’t say for certain that there’s only one way people thought about it all. The political aspects of my music are pretty vailed, like you can’t just read between the lines but you have to think beyond them. There’s a lot of climate change ideas woven into the stories, especially in the story of my EP “Pluviophilic Poetry“ since it’s story takes place in this drying kingdom.
But being the person I am, politics is something I want to explore more in my art, queer rights for example.
You also have a song called “The Saga“ and I know how dear it is to you. Tell me more about the writing process, was it harder or easier to write a song that has so much of yourself in it?
It’s really interesting with this one because it’s so personal but at the same time, it’s about something completely different than myself, which makes it fun because you can explore in a totally different way. I think the first thing I wrote was the starting line, “Long ago, far from home“ which very much connects it to those classic fairytales but also my name “The Saga“, and as I wrote it, I just added the whole fairytale theme to it which ended up becoming the whole theme of the album, so it all kind of connects... trying not to spoil too much here! I’m just really connected to the song through my beliefs and the feeling of longing for something that is uncertain to ever come, like wanting some kind of salvation in a way.
Your first single “Rows Of Somebodies“ came out almost one and half years ago now and that one REALLY blew up, with over half a million streams on Spotify alone. How are you feeling about this crazy development?
It’s really crazy to me, having this happen with the first song I ever put out is something I never thought could happen. I am so proud that it happened with this specific song as well because, except for the guitar playing and the mastering, it was fully produced and made by me. And the story as well, I can see it play in front of me, just this person trying to find their way through life while being really scared of death, but then learning along the way that, despite it being a scary thing, it’s just part of the circle that nature takes.
I remember hearing it for the first time before it came out, just listening while sitting at these cliffs in Ireland and it was quite literally perfect, it all being so peaceful and unsettling at the same time. What would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since putting that song out?
As an advice for other people, knowing when something is done, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You are your own biggest critique of course, but you never know what’s going to happen and who’s gonna like it and it’s just so amazing to put your art out and for people to love it, you will never have that if you don’t allow yourself to show people and grow with it. I just had a conversation with an artist I found online and when I told them how much I liked their song they were like “No I hate it, I put it out too early...“ but with music, you can always come back to it again, you can always re-record a song later, you don’t have to be afraid to start with what you have.
Agreed! I feel like artists our age, us included, don’t really realize that we have time, tand hat we don’t need to be perfect immediately. With your music, what are you hoping to bring across to listeners?
I want people to feel like they can escape reality and explore their own creativity in a quite magical way, I feel like everyone should have magic in their life, in whatever way. I want my music to feel like a soundtrack to that, to be empowering, encouraging people to find their own path in life and believe in themselves. Also, for people to know that they can love whoever they want and that that can also be magical in a beautiful way.
What would your dream artist collab be? There’s a few coming to my mind hearing what you just described!
Obviously Hozier, no question. No explanation is needed. Also, The Last Dinner Party would be so cool, even though they lean more into rock, the vibe is pretty similar. I don’t know if a lot of people know this but I come from a background of metal and rock, having studied it and having been in a metal band before, I would love to bring that out there again.
Oh I can so see that! I think I would love to see you collaborate with Tamino as well, that really would be magical. Do you already have plans for 2025 that you can share with us?
Well, there definitely will be more music, and the music that will be released has been teased on Instagram and TikTok already, not saying which ones, but if you want to find them, you can. Also, I will be playing shows, especially in Berlin, during the Winter and Spring. So, German people, keep an eye out!
