From North London, the producer, performer, and sound artist S.A.A.R.A gets us grooving on the dancefloor with her latest vibrant single and accompanying music video, "Forest."
Beginning her career as a bass player, S.A.A.R.A weaves her captivating basslines around profound beats, synth hooks, and woodwind riffs. Not to mention her distinctive and mesmerizing vocals, S.A.A.R.A's music offers a nod to genres like disco, funk, electronic, and afrobeat.
Soaking us in her orchestral funk sound with her latest single, "Forest," listeners can introduce themselves to the versatile stylings of S.A.A.R.A by way of this heated banger. As she pours a blistering upbeat groove through our speakers, S.A.A.R.A makes the experience all the more memorable through her conceptual and surreal music video that traps listeners between the realms of reality and a dream.
Jumping into "Forest," the track opens with a quick drum arrangement that gets our toes tapping instantly. As broad and booming sub-bass crashes through our speakers alongside a haunting saxophone and a fluid flute, S.A.A.R.A makes her way in and adds this nostalgic aspect to the song, taking us back to the 90s/00s electronic music scene. S.A.A.R.A makes the listening experience incredibly savory as she haunts our speakers in various undertones that pay tribute to the many genres that have influenced her vast sound.
Peaking at the music video for "Forest," the scenes open with S.A.A.R.A and her significant other just after a falling out. As he flees their home and enters the lonesome forest, he somehow finds himself wandering London's empty alleys where he stumbles upon a shimmering S.A.A.R.A, fluidly moving her body to the beat while dressed in large sequins that glimmer in the spotlight. While in awe of her every move, S.A.A.R.A disappears and closes the video on an incredibly ethereal note.
Get into the groove of S.A.A.R.A's latest dynamic single, "Forest," and find the song's music video on YouTube.
Hello S.A.A.R.A, and welcome to BuzzMusic. We're head over heels for the energy and vibrance of your latest single, "Forest." When did you begin sparking ideas and laying down tracks for this single? How long was it in the making? Forest was the first track I completed for this project and the first song I had finished in a long old time. In a way it kinda found me as I had been in search of what my ‘voice’ and ‘sound’ would be; partly because I listen to such a broad range of music and, essentially, I wanted to make everything! All I knew is that I wanted people to dance! Forest began as a DNB-style beat and a really simple bass line that would evolve rhythmically throughout the track. At the time, back in 2016, I had just started an MA in Experimental Music and had become interested in exploring the line between what we consider reality and hyperreality, the IRL (in real life) vs the URL (online). After many weeks of just a bassline and I beat, I decided to get over my fear of singing and start mumbling into a microphone to see what would happen. Fortuitously, Forest was the result.
What sort of lyrical theme or concept did you want to provide within the single "Forest?" Forest is about not being quite certain whether you are in a weird dream or a dystopian reality and trying to find something, anything, to confirm it either way – kinda fitting for these strange times. One of my favorite lines is “sometimes I look at you and I wonder if you’re on my TV, but I don’t think you’re real, I’ve seen you running through the forest”
How does your music video for "Forest" enhance the song's lyrical concept? What sort of story did you want to tell through the music video? Visually, I wanted to capture the essence of the track, leaning into how layered the composition is and the theme of the song being about existing somewhere between a dream and reality and not being quite sure which is the place you should be. I wanted to create scenes that had a slight twist on reality, injecting a dream-like quality with elements of magic, mystery, and hyperreality. Colour, light and shade, projection, and optical illusion were all things I knew had to be included. I wanted the video to have a cinematic feel along the lines of film noir via Kubrick. Emily Seale Jones, the Director, did a phenomenal job of translating the track into film, working with the most amazing crew.