the seshen takes its power back on “take it all away”

“I’m learning to be unapologetically Black, unapologetically queer, unapologetically a woman and unapologetically myself.”

The Seshen is one of those bands whose every new release is an invitation to stop and take it all in. On its best songs, the group’s lush synths, retro-futuristic beats, and, on top of it all, the ethereal, powerful vocals of front-woman, Lalin St. Juste, coalesce  into a microverse of expansive sonic texture.

The Seshen’s latest single, “Take It All Away,” comes from its forthcoming album, CYAN. It’s a plea from St. Juste to do away with the external bullshit placed on her by the outside world, and finally access her actual self beneath it all. With one of her strongest hooks, and some of the band’s deepest production to date, there’s a pulsating emotional drive; the synths bubble and decay like the smoke and water in the accompanying lyric video. There’s a longing and undeniable power to St. Juste’s vocals as she sings lines like “I’m the one I’ve been chasing / I don’t even know why though.”

Lalin St. Juste explains to us: “The first few lines of this song were freestyle. What was coming out of me was the desire to break through being what others have wanted me to be. As a black, queer woman, there are a lot of ways in which I have been conditioned that do not serve my truth. I’m in a continuous process of taking away all these layers, healing this confusion, and taking back my power, my voice, my sense of self.”

The Seshen’s CYAN drops in late February.