Today Ajeet (formerly Ajeet Kaur) shares her first release since 2018 along with a gorgeous video shot in New Zealand.
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“When She Rises” sees the spiritual singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pairing up with Woven Kin to deliver a mysterious, poetic journey inward (Ajeet calls Woven Kin “a new project with my dear friend and collaborator, the brilliant harpist and vocalist Aisling Urwin”).
“Each stage of the moon’s cycle has an essence and a feeling. ‘When She Rises’ invokes the feeling of an inward turn, and tells the story of quiet strength rising out of times spent in solitude and life’s shadows,” explains Ajeet of the track. “In this it reflects the feeling of the waning moon; a descent through the inner layers to a deeper place within. This musical journey is not separate from nature, not separate from the ebbs and flows of the human heart. The song is a companion and a sanctuary to carry with you as you move through these ever-changing cycles of life in all it’s shades.”
“When She Rises” arrives with a breathtaking visual that shows Ajeet and Woven Kin performing the song on a grassy mountain in Glenorchy, New Zealand. Shots of the setting sun and rising moon beautifully complement Ajeet and Woven Kin’s ethereal vocal harmonies and spare, atmospheric strings.
“I wrote this song at a time when I lived right by the sea,” Ajeet explained in a journal post last year. “I kept having dreams about meeting this old woman down at the path that lead [sic] to my favorite spot to swim in the water. It wasn’t an easy moment in my heart, and I felt life asking me to take big leaps in order to stay true to my core, to my calling, to my heart which yearned for freedom to feel what it felt. This song is about her; she’s the shifting winds, the cold hard rock, and the rough and raging sea. She called, I listened, and then she set me free.”
“Throughout this song, and many of my other songs, there are layers of folklore, dream images and myth,” she continued. “I’ve always loved story, and especially learning the stories of culture that have given people a sense of wisdom and guidance as we all take on the complex task of navigating a human life. We are individuals, but we also know common heartaches and common bonds. Staying close to stories passed down over time lets me feel close to a purpose in our wanderings, and a ground where otherwise there may be none.”
“When She Rises” is Ajeet’s first single following her 2018 releases Indigo Sea and Shuniya: Healing Chants, but it’s not her first collaboration with Urwin. The harpist was also featured on Indigo Sea’s closing track, “Ocean’s Lullaby.” Other Ajeet collaborators on that album include Rising Appalachia and Minuk; previous collaborators include Trevor Hall and Peia.
Ajeet ultimately hopes that “When She Rises” will inspire listeners to honor their hearts, just as she has learned to do over the past few years.
“This song has held me through many moments when I hoped for clarity, and gave me the strength to step in the direction my heart pulled,” she writes. “My hope is that it will be a sanctuary for those who hear it, a place of stillness, where it is possible to listen for the quiet whispers of a guiding glow, even in the darkest of nights.”
“When She Rises” is out now via Spirit Voyage.
