PSYKĒ
Singing the inner life.
HEARTSONG EP
Heartsong is a vocal electronic album exploring the inner landscapes of human experience through voice, poetry, and sound.
Drawing from East-West musical traditions, minimalist influences, electronic soundscapes, and a lineage of poetry spanning cultures and centuries, the EP creates a space between worlds.
Guided by Psykē's lyric mezzo-soprano voice, each piece explores different dimensions of the psyche, weaving together the physical, emotional, and symbolic aspects of being human.
Heartsong invites deep listening, drawing the listener inward through the body, the breath, and especially, the Earth.
A New Earth
A New Earth explores the moment you realize you’re not the voice in your head. Through meditation or other practices, you begin to observe your thoughts—still rapid-fire, yet now discernible—without identifying with them. This is often unnerving and transformative. As this experience becomes more common, I felt it was time to write a song about it.
How this song came to be
I began composing this song in 2021 on an out-of-tune piano in my parents’ house, stuck in California because COVID-19 had grounded all flights back to Patagonia.
The song explores different levels of consciousness. The title—a nod to Eckhart Tolle’s book—frames consciousness as a catalyst for a new way of living on this planet.
Musically, each of the three vocal registers represents a different level of consciousness with its own identity, creating a “song within a song.” In this way, the music mirrors the lyrics by moving between different levels of consciousness, just as we might in our daily lives.
At the time, I was coming to terms with different levels of consciousness within myself and closing a long and painful chapter: my recovery from severe anorexia.
Lyrics
It’s time to feel
What thoughts have made
It’s time to break
The spell
“Feelings are just visitors” (Mooji)
But some we send down to the basement
We pretend they’re not there
When they come up, we run from ourselves
Terrified (repeated)
Who have we become?
(Ego) It’s not fair, he doesn’t care, I’m not enough, nobody loves me
(Ego) It’s not fair, she doesn’t care, I’m not enough, nobody loves me
(Ego) It’s not fair, they don’t care, I’m not enough, nobody loves me (repeats)
Ah, brahman
Find the door, find the door, find the door in the center of your chest
And let the spirits fly in and out
Can I watch you?
Can I let this body do this by herself?
She is a miracle
(Ego) It’s not fair, they don’t care, I’m not enough, nobody loves me
(Ego) But I’m right, they’re wrong, no I’m right, things should be like I say
(Ego) But I’ll fight, I’m strong, wound up tight, they should do things my way
(Ego) But I’m right, he’s wrong, no I’m right, he should be like I say
(Ego) But I’ll fight, I’m strong, wound up tight, he should do things my way
(Ego) But I’m right, she’s wrong, no I’m right, she should be like I say
(Ego) But I’ll fight, I’m strong, wound up tight, she should do things my way
Find the door, find the door, find the door in the center of your chest
And let the spirits fly in and out
Can I watch this?
Can I see thoughts come and go, and not believe them?
Who even am I then?
(Ego) I’m afraid
(Ego) I’m not enough
(Ego) Something’s wrong
(Ego) It’s too much
(Ego) I hate myself
(Ego) I’m unlovable
(Ego) I’m not enough
(Ego) I feel so alone
(Ego) I’m not good enough
(Ego) Something’s wrong with me, something’s wrong with me,
something’s wrong with me
Find the door, find the door, find the door in the center of your chest
And let the spirits fly in and out
Can I be still?
With beliefs that cause me pain, are they really true?
I’m in the unknown now
Find the now
Wake up, dear Heart
You’re Home
Orbiting Source
Orbiting Source asks the timeless question: Why am I here? Humanity has yet to provide a satisfactory answer to this question, but it's something we all ask ourselves. This is a song for the young, for those standing at the crossroads of life, and for liminal states. It is a sonic reminder to look in the deepest place inside us—versus the outside world—for the answers we seek.
How this song came to be
I composed this song entirely in Patagonia. At the time, we lived in a tiny, drafty, upcycled cabin heated by firewood and inhabited by hundreds of tiny spiders. I remember sitting on the bed—the only surface comfortable enough for a computer and keyboard—and hearing the three violins come together at 1:49 for the first time, breath caught at their beauty.
Musically, I was exploring circularity: the spiral of life, the DNA-like form of untempered music, existence, meaning, and purpose. As a composer, there comes a moment when the music leads and you simply follow. This song holds many such moments: it pulls you inward, carries you through portals, cleaves toward the innate, toward the seed of it all. It invites you to pause there for a moment, unfolding.
Lyrics
“I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?”
(Source: “Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God,” by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission)
“People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two
worlds touch
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep”
(Source: “The Essential Rumi” by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission)
Tell me, who is it you want to be, in this brief fierce and fragile world?
“The door is wide and open
You must ask for what you really want”
(Source: “The Essential Rumi” by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission)
The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element is about reconnecting with what truly matters. Set to one of Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, it is a meditation on the heart and an invitation to let go of what no longer serves you. The only acoustic track in the album, its minimalism—both in instrumentation and musical style—provides a moment's respite amid the wild complexity of the other tracks.
How this song came to be
This song came straight out of nature. I composed it on a lyre I carried with me on hikes and kayak trips throughout Patagonia. Bit by bit, through improvisation on the shores of lakes and in remote forests draped with old man’s beard, this song emerged.
Shaped by my love of the sonnet it’s set to by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, the piece is a homage to the Orpheus-like transformation true reflection can bring. It calls us inward, to touch what nature awakens in all of us—an uplifting of spirit, a remembering of breath and body, a connection to the whole.
Lyrics
"You who let yourselves feel: enter the breathing
that is more than your own.
Let it brush your cheeks
as it divides and rejoins beside you.
Blessed ones, whole ones,
you where the heart begins:
You are the bow that shoots the arrows
and you are the target.
Fear not the pain. Let its weight fall back
into the Earth;
for heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.
The trees you planted in childhood have grown
too heavy. You cannot bring them along.
Give yourselves to the air, to what you cannot hold."
Source: Part One, Sonnet IV, "Sonnets to Orpheus," by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used with permission.
Know Thyself
Know Thyself dives into the nature of stressful thoughts and how to break free from them. Inspired by Byron Katie’s The Work, the song gives voice to different levels of consciousness, ultimately leading to a place beyond duality—echoed in a timeless line from Rumi.
How this song came to be
This song grew out of the 500+ pages of Byron Katie worksheets I was immersed in at the time. Stunned by the transformation this practice brought to my life, I wanted to express it through my most-loved language: music.
Bookended by Rilke and Rumi, the song guides listeners through the process of observing the voices of the mind—their complaints, judgments, and illusions—in a musical build that echoes the emotional overwhelm such thoughts often bring. All of this is watched “from above,” so to speak, by a higher Self who knows life unfolds on a field beyond ideas of right and wrong.
Musically, I wanted this to be a song you could move to, because to me it embodies the dance of life itself. It ends on a high note floating over a galaxy of sound, evoking the sense of peace I often feel after seeing myself more clearly through a worksheet.
Lyrics
“Quiet friend / Who has come so far”
(Source: "Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower," by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission.)
“There’s a field / I’ll meet you there”
(Source: "The Essential Rumi," by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission.)
“Nearby is a country they call Life / You will know it by its seriousness”
(Source: "Go To The Limits Of Your Longing," by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission.)
Thoughts and feelings, making it seem so real
“Give me your hand”
(Source: "Go To The Limits Of Your Longing," by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission.)
(Ego) I am annoyed at him, I am annoyed at her, I am annoyed at them
(Ego) I want him to change, I want her to change, I want them to change
(Ego) He shouldn’t make me feel, she shouldn’t make me feel, they shouldn’t make me feel
(Ego) To be happy, I need...to be happy I need...to be happy I need...
(Ego) He is a piece of shit, she is a piece of shit, they are a piece of shit
(Ego) I never want to feel this way again...I never want to feel this way again....
(Higher Self) Quiet, be still, is any of this even true?
'I am annoyed at him.' Is it true? 'I am annoyed at her.' Is it true? 'I am annoyed at them.' Is it true?
“Quiet friend / Who has come so far”
(Source: "Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower," by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission.)
Out beyond, out beyond
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing, of
rightdoing
Out beyond ideas, out beyond ideas,
Out beyond ideas
There is a field
I’ll meet you there”
(Source: "The Essential Rumi," by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission.)
Atomic Love
Atomic Love is both a lament for the Earth and a reminder that we are not separate from her. This track explores our deep entanglement with nature, guiding us toward a sense of wholeness while acknowledging humanity’s critically strained relationship with the planet.
How this song came to be
This song was born from a deep sense of change—particularly a change in the Earth herself. In some ways, it is a lament for a planet that is already gone, or in the act of departing. Our world is shifting. The mechanistic and technological revolutions, unfurled in just a few swift centuries, come alongside increasing estrangement from the Earth and a growing planetary crisis. We are brought to a threshold no one can yet see beyond.
This piece gives voice to those sensations: love, loss, change, the human factor, and the wild, pulsating beat of the planet herself. It is a song for a time both uncertain and definitive—a moment in which the human illusion of separateness has become so strong it alters the planet’s ecological balance. Has anyone paused to love her, to feel her, to witness her in this moment of change? This song is an invitation to do so, and to remember: we were never separate.
Lyrics
Oh dear one, dear Earth (repeats)
I see you changing
Reflecting the mess we’ve created
Oh, oh, oh don’t go
Every atom, every atom, every atom (repeats)
"Every atom belonging to me as good
belongs to you"
(Source: Walt Whitman)
"Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
‘you owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that!
It lights up the whole sky."
(Source: "The Sun Never Says," from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz © 1999, Daniel Ladinsky. With permission. www.danielladinsky.com.)