Sasha Siem - Bird Burning (2016)

Sasha Siem’s second LP draws on the indigenous practices of her native Norway to create an immersive song cycle.

Produced in Iceland by Björk collaborator Valgeir Sigurðsson, Bird Burning is heavily influenced by the Scandinavian landscapes of Siem’s home. She describes them as “epic and vast, connecting us to the primal and the mythical.” Much the same could be said of the album’s soundscapes, an avant-garde journey through a relationship that showcases the breadth of Siem’s classical training. “I don’t really conceive of music [as] as “pop” or “classical”,” she explains. “Music is more of a continuum for me. So long as it comes from somewhere true - from the soul - it resonates.”

The landscapes were not Norway’s only contribution to Bird Burning. In the wake of her death, Siem journeyed to her grandmother’s place of birth in the north, where she became absorbed in the musical traditions of the Sami, Norway’s indigenous people. Under the wing of renowned Sami singer Mari Boine, she explored the tradition of yoiking: invoking music into existence through singing in a trance-like state. Despite differing sonically from the yoiks of Sami history, this cultural immersion infuses Siem’s writing with a depth and gravity rarely found in popular music.

Besides yoiking, the record’s influences are wide-reaching. At the centre is the medieval notion that birds represent the soul at different stages. These stages are named, then mapped onto the love story Siem’s album narrates, silhouetting it against a backdrop that stretches back through the centuries. Such high concepts can easily fall flat, resulting in contrived and burdensome albums with tracks that fail to stand alone. Thankfully Bird Burning rises to the challenge, each track taking flight as a delicate individual. The echoing percussion of album opener “Crow” reflects the symbolic notion of death preceding growth and transformation, whilst Siem describes “Swan” as “emblematic of the purity and grace of a fresh start”.

Siem admits that one track carries a particularly intimate significance to her. “Pelican” was written following an accident in which Siem fell from a Cliffside into the sea. “My spine broke, and so did so many things in my inner world,” she explains. “So much that I’d stored up inside me seemed to seep out through the cracks after that. The tenderness and pain of the days that followed are all folded into the song.” “Pelican”’s delicate guitars and haunting vocal do not dwell on the physical trauma of the incident, instead leading a tender exploration of the emotional repurcussions. “Pelicans are often seen as symbols for the spiritual dive we take into the depths of our inner emotional seas,” Siem adds.

The brass-heavy tracks interspersed between “Peacock”, “Pelican”, and “Bird Burning are some of the album’s weakest offerings – whilst central to the story, “Air III – Joy” and “Air IV – You Punish” sit a little haphazardly amongst their peers. If little else, they provide an insight into the sheer versatility of Siem’s musical talent, revealing just how easy it would be for her to abandon pop altogether in favour of left-field classical works.

Bird Burning is a spectacular record on several levels, successfully tackling concepts other artists would rightly shy from. Scandinavia regularly yields musicians of extraordinary talent, but Sasha Siem’s startling ambition stands Bird Burning head and shoulders above the rest.