Mariee Siou releases the title track of her new EP ‘Circle of Signs’, accompanied by a music video directed by the visionary multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Shay and featuring first-time actor Seraphia Behr.
Mariee Siou (previously Sioux) has previously described herself as an abstract storyteller of the natural world; her poetry and songs are often shaped by her strong connection to nature, a bond that’s been present since her childhood; she was raised in the Sierra foothills of Northern California where music has also played a prominent part in her life; her father being a bluegrass musician.
Alongside nature, themes of loss also frequent her songs. Although Siou’s mother has indigenous ancestry, she’s not affiliated with any one tribe. Siou has often spoken of how this has surfaced through her music as personal grief, where her heritage has been lost over just a couple of generations, along with its cultural roots and customs. This is maybe felt strongest on her last album, Grief in Exile (2022), where grief is also recognised as an essential part of the healing process surrounding loss and new beginnings.
Siou has just released her lead single, ‘Circle of Signs‘, the title track of her new EP (out on 28 April). Here, she tackles a loss that faces us all. The catastrophic effects of climate change are brought into focus as the song acts as a prayer, reflecting on indigenous prophecies and pondering the choice humanity faces as it continues along its current path, filled with consumption, capitalism and technology, that only further ravages the planet. Talking about the song, she said:
“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. 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.”
The film was directed by the visionary multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Shay and created with a talented group of collaborators and artists brought together by Samantha in Iceland.
A note from the director: “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, and so for this video, 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, she 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. 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.”
For those in the US, Siou is on tour across the West Coast in May with support from Kacey Johansing on several dates. See more here – https://www.marieesiou.com/events
Pre-order Circle of Signs via Bandcamp: https://marieesioux.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-signs