ADVENT INTERVIEW #1: The SAGA about the new EP, epic fairytales and creation of music

In our Advent Interview series, we release new interviews every Sunday until Christmas.

Today, we’re here with THE SAGA, an artist from Sweden, who now lives in Berlin. Saga's sound is cinematic, calming, and like a beautiful folklore combined in a song.

Listen to the new EP while you read or watch the full video below.

Mäx: Welcome Saga, we're glad to have you on here.

The Saga: Hi, thank you, I'm glad to be here.

Mäx: First up, how would you describe your music in general for maybe our readers who don't know you?

The Saga: I always say that it's like cinematic glitter morbid because, like, it's very morbid when you look at the lyrics, but it hides behind this glittery surface of the soundscape and like witchy folk music, so that's the package, and it's like a fairy tale coming to life.

Mäx: Sounds beautiful.

How did you get started with that kind of music? Because, of course, folklore and that vibe is a genre, but why did you decide on that?

The Saga: Well, like in Sweden, fairytales are like what you grow up with and folk music is very like big in the music sphere. When you start learning an instrument, for example, I started playing violin when I was six years old. So I kind of started getting into that already. And then, as I grew up, I went away from it a little. But then, when I finished my high school project, I did an EP, and I wanted to do an album, but it was an EP in the end. And it was coming back kind of to that like child sense of the folky vibes and I lived very close to a forest and like did all of the themes and like the videos and everything there for it. So Yeah, I guess it kind of comes from that.

Mäx: Sounds really good. I mean your name sounds like an epic story itself, right? Is this also where your inspiration comes from or what made you decide to that name?

The Saga: It's actually my own name, so my name is Saga. And that is also why the fairytale is kind of in it, because in Swedish, Saga is also the word for a story. So I've always been connected with that and been not teased, but you know, when you're a child and you like tease people for what their name means, kind of. It's always been in and around me. So that's where the name comes from.

Mäx: That's so cool. Like I love that name. I would say your music could also come from a fairytale, itself, right? It could come from any book. Where do you take your general inspiration from while writing?

The Saga: It comes from nature a lot and also from different books and from writing myself. I love to write different stories and stuff and my song The Saga, was based on a fairytale that I started writing. So that story is an actual fairytale as well. And my debut single was inspired by Work Song by Hozier. So it comes from many different places.

Mäx: I mean, that's kind of one of my other questions as well, because you just released your new EP titled Pluviophilic Poetry with the three new songs. You already said your self-titled song The Saga was inspired from that, which is so cool.

I love how the song starts with the words "long ago, far from home". And it has that kind of introduction to that epic story. I feel like you go a little bit about this hero in that story as well.

Can you just tell us a little bit more about that song The Saga?

Mäx: Ah, so it's all interconnected and everything, I love that. How did you look for such story as inspiration? I mean, there's so many epic stories out there. Did you just like say, that's my favorite one I've read so far and I really want to write a song about that or is it more?

The Saga: Yeah, when I kind of started the concept, I was reading the Song of Achilles and I highlighted words that I thought were cool and that kind of became The Divine and then at the same time I was writing The Saga and I showed my friend this like hook that I wrote for it and she was like, you sang Poseidon, that's really cool and I was like I actually didn't, but that works perfectly and then it kind of blossomed from there.

Mäx: I love when all your friends are chiming in. Is it generally something that you do? Do you have people that are in the process or songwriting or a band that's going in, or is it more self-produced?

The Saga: My first few songs were self-written and like I love that kind of vibe as well but I have the friend that I was talking about, Ida, she also writes a little with me and she wrote Ocean Hymn actually that is on the EP and so I get some like advice and stuff from there as well and The Divine was written with my friend Aditya, who goes under the artist name Hulo. And yeah, so I do write with other people a lot as well. And since I'm in university for songwriting, we do a lot of courses on like writing together. So it's something I enjoy, but I also really enjoy writing by myself as well.

Mäx: You mentioned your second song, which is called The Divine and it's a duet with Hula. I really just love how your voices come together. Can you just like say a little bit about the collab and like the general song and lyricism in it?

Mäx: Yeah, I actually like that perspective in a way, like the perspective change of the gender, I guess, you know, because usually it's always about like one person and, you know, and that just has that perspective change, which I loved. And generally, I think a lot of people kind of can relate to it a little bit.

Your third song. you already said it a little bit. It's called Ocean Hymn. Personally, I think it's beautifully written. And I think you already mentioned your songwriting process, maybe a little bit about your musical production.

Do you play your instruments yourself or how long does it take you to write one song?

The Saga: That's a big question. Okay, so, like, I can sit down in one sitting and write a whole song. And that's usually my favorite songs because they're just like natural. And that doesn't happen so often. But yeah, so my songwriting process can also be longer. And then the production, when I produce myself, I do it kind of like writing as I go.

And so the arranging happens during the production process. And that happened with Haunted Home and Rows of Somebody's because I produced those myself. And then this EP was produced by my friend and he came into the process after I had rehearsed all of the songs with my band. And so in those three songs, the instruments are played by the band, so we have the bassist and the drummer and everything.

But then there's like the violin I played. I can also play most instruments, so in Rows of Somebodies there's a piano. It's not very vocal, but like it's there and I play that and then I play the guitar in Haunted Home, also the bass in both of those songs. And yeah, so I kind of jump in where there needs to be a little more.

Mäx: Yeah, sounds good. Especially if you're in uni for music, right? I mean, that just gives so much more to it in a way that you can experience a lot more probably than maybe other artists.

The Saga: Yeah, exactly.

Mäx: From all your songs in general. What was your favorite to release or to write? What was the most fun for you?

The Saga: I think it was The Saga because it's so dynamic in so many ways and is like definitely a story because you can notice if you look at the song and how it's built up, it's not a classic mainstream kind of dynamic shift in it. very much goes like a story would go like a saga. And that's really what I want to do. So I really love that song and also because I play violin on it, it's very dear to me.

Mäx: Yeah, it's nice. As I said, I really enjoy listening to that song. Generally, I think your fans after listening to that EP will be really excited for your music. So will there be more music coming out? Is there going to be an album in the future? What is happening?

The Saga: Yeah, definitely. We're going to start recording new songs soon. And it's going to be under the same umbrella as Pluviophilic Poetry because that title is for an album that is about 10 to 12 songs long. And it's a whole universe really that I'm trying to build that also has this story to it that is a book that is gonna like play with the music.

Mäx: Yeah, sounds really promising. You already mentioned it, like your name from the whole EP is so interesting. I researched a little bit what the name Pluviophile even is -because I didn't know. And my research said it's a person who enjoys all facades of rain. Why did you choose that name? Is it something that personally connects to you? Or what is it?

The Saga: Yeah, I love love love rain like that is my soul basically every time it rains I'm like I have to go outside. And so this album and the whole universe is rain obsessed in a way. I like to like translate it as rain obsessed poetry because all of the songs are inspired by or written during rain.

And when the album is out, you can follow it through The Saga being the first song and then go through the whole set list and you see that it starts at like a land that doesn't have any rain, but then it starts to rain and then it rains more and more and becomes a storm. And then you drown, which is the Ocean hymn, where you drown. And then everything gets better and there's a rainbow. So that's what it's about.

Mäx: Yeah, really interesting. I love how you conceptualize that kind of idea behind the album. So it has like a own lore behind it or like as you said, like the fairy tale vibe that is really realized by it.

So maybe let's talk about some old songs of yours. Your most listened song is Rows of Somebodies. For me, lyrical wise, it kind of seemed like it was a little like a hymn to life and death in a way. Maybe can you explain the lyricism about that?

The Saga: Yeah, so like the music industry right now is very big and scary for people who don't really know what is happening and I think it's very important to stay educated and learn what your rights are in the field that you are in to really know how to navigate contracts and just know everything because there are so many stories of people that lose their rights of their music and everything like that and I think it's very important to not get to that point. I think everyone deserves to have control over their own music and their own words and their own thoughts.

Mäx: Yeah, it's really important. I mean, we as a magazine, of course, see that all the time as well, how it also destroys careers, you know, in a way. So it's beautiful that you spoke up about it because I think it's really an important message.

Generally maybe for your fans, I know that some people probably want to see you live maybe at some point. Is there already something planned for the upcoming year maybe or is this still in the plans?

The Saga: There's definitely plans being made, but nothing is set yet.

Mäx: Alright, so we will see in the future. Lastly, you already named Hozier, but maybe we have our own Artist Faves Playlist on Spotify, where the artists that we interview always put in their two favorite songs, either of the moment or in general.

Can you name something that you really like to listen to?

The Saga: I love Nick Cave. That is one of my biggest inspirations. Just the way he is really like him himself is a concept. So I think my favorite song by him is probably People Ain't No Good. And then hmm there are many many many....What comes to mind is The Last Dinner Party. I love Beautiful Boy by The Last Dinner Party. I saw them live at a festival in Sweden last August, so 2023. And that was like, they had 38,000 followers on Instagram and I just went to the stage because they were playing the smallest stage and I went there to see them because I saw one TikTok of theirs and I was like, okay, they have a cool name. So I want to see them and I stood front row and I was like ('WOAH') it was the craziest thing I've ever seen and Beautiful Boy just stood out so much to me. So ever since then, that's been my favorite song.

Mäx: I totally can relate to that. I saw The Last Dinner Party live when I was seeing Hozier. So I think they're amazing. So totally a good choice for the playlist.

Our last question is about your unseen essential for producing music or writing music. What is your personal unseen essential while you know doing music?

The Saga: Do you mean a thing or like a concept?

Mäx: Could be anything. You can name a thing and a concept or something that you usually do, maybe something like a tradition you do, whatever comes to mind.

The Saga: Hmm, a concept that I really love when producing is the way I edit vocals, and I really love stacking in so many different ways; different harmonies and different textures of voice are also really cool. I love dubbing my main vocal with just me whispering the vocals. It just sounds so cool. So that is one of my essentials definitely that I always do. And a thing, I guess, like my lip balm - like I'm addicted to my lip balm. If I didn't have that, I would never be able to sing really because I don't know, it's an OCD thing, I guess.

Mäx: Yeah, I mean, that's a really important thing. Well, that's about it already. Thank you for being here and, you know, taking the time to do an interview with us.

The Saga: Yeah, thank you. It was really fun.

LISTEN TO SAGA'S MUSIC RECS HERE:

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