BY TRISTA EDWARDS

Do you sometimes hear a singer and think—This is it. I’ve met my maker. I can die a blissful, serene death swaddled in nothing but their voice. Take me now, Goddess. It can’t get any better than this moment right now.

That’s how I felt the first time I hear Sevdaliza, the Iranian-Dutch singer-songwriter who has yet to even release her full-length album. (The album, ISON, is due out later this year on her own label, Twisted Elegance) I immediately became engrossed with her trip-hop and R&B sound that is reminiscent of artists like Tricky, Massive Attack, and Portishead. The visually surreal magic of her videos is dark, ethereal, melancholy, evocative, and seductive. One can’t help but think of Björk when watching the filmic narrative of the songs on screen with Sevdaliza’s opulent and Giger-esque biomechanical body in "Marilyn Monroe" or the erotic centauress in "Human."

For now, you can devour music and videos from Sevedeliza’s two EPs, Children of Silk and The Suspended Kid until ISON, named after a comet, will be released later this year. Sevedeliza also co-starred, co-directed, produced, and scored the soundtrack for the somber short film The Formula by Emmanual Adjei. (Adjei also directed her video for "Human”" The fifteen minute film follows two lovers as they grapple with love, pain, creativity, suicide, and grief. The film is as beautiful and stunning as it is heart wrenching.

Gush with me over some of my favorite videos. Fall in love with Sevdaliz'a voice. Get pulled into her celestial orbit of her art.

There is no official musical video for the song "Bebin" (meaning to see) which Sevdaliza sings in Farsi in protest of Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, known more colloquially as the Muslim travel ban. The artist, who left her birthplace of Tehran as a child with her family as refugees, had the following to say as the inspiration for this song:

“In protest of the inhumane political climate, I could not rest my head in privilege. I wrote Bebin’ in Farsi, to solidify. I stand strong with love. In this case I choose to avoid mainstream media, because I have no interest in part taking in a victimized concept. Take this message without lights, camera, action. I am solely a messenger. In the brain of love, there is no place for racism nor bigotry.”

Trista Edwards is a poet, land mermaid, light witch, horror enthusiast, creatrix, traveler, and dog lover. She is also the curator and editor of the anthology, Till The Tide: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2015). She is currently working on her first full-length poetry collection but until then you can read her poems at The Journal, Quail Bell Magazine, 32 Poems, The Adroit Journal, Sou’wester, Queen Mob's Tea House, and more. She writes about travel, ghosts, and poetry on her blog, Marvel + Moon. Trista is a contributing editor at Luna Luna Magazine.