Artists You Should Know: Absorb the Soothing Harmonies of säje on Their Self-Titled Debut Album

West Coast supergroup säje has just unveiled their stellar self-titled debut album, effectively solidifying their place as beacons of contemporary jazz. They will also be playing at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles on October 29th. Comprised of Los Angeles-based Sara Gazarek and Erin Bentlage and Seattle-situated Johnaye Kendrick and Amanda Taylor their music is a soul-soothing mix of radiant harmonies and enchanting instrumentals.

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The very first track that greets you on säje is the lilting “Desert Song” — a song that earned the group a GRAMMY nomination back in 2020 when it was first released. Echoing and glowing as it is with their beautifully resonant vocal exchanges it’s not hard to see why. Endlessly mesmerizing whether they’re floating their iridescent harmonies over the soft pluck of acoustics, a scramble of percussion, or a lush twinkling of piano keys.

On “(You Are) The Oracle” they weave their luminous words between a dreamy punctuation of jazz tones and the dulcet scatting of Michael Mayo. While on the somber but triumphant “Never You Mind,” they set a powerful rebuke against police brutality, reading off a list of the lives lost alongside the clarion calls of jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.

Another stunning single, “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” joins the heavenly-voiced quartet with the stratospheric cries of Jacob Collier for one of the album’s ecstatic highs. It’s a song that touches on the beaming emotionality that crescendos resplendently from the trifecta of their poetic lyricism, ethereal vocals, and spellbinding instrumentals.

Other standouts on the album include the sweeping praise the billows within “Wisteria,” with its glowing affirmations of love and growth, as well as the verdant heights touched by the group’s harmonic cries on “Evergreen.” While its final track is a double-whammy of two rapt covers: the first of British singer/songwriter Michael Kiwanuka’s “Solid Ground,” the second a gorgeous rendition of “Blackbird.”