From her birthplace in Santiago, Chile, to a scholarship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Yael Meyer’s music reflects her eclectic background; an amalgamation of folk rock, her parents’ record collection and the exotic sounds of her homeland. Yael Meyer will release her third album, Warrior Heart via KLI Records on Sept 9, 2014.
Produced by Bill Lefler (Dashboard Confessional, Ingrid Michaelson, Fall Out Boy) at his Death Star Studios in L.A.’s Koreatown, Warrior Heart offers a flowering of Yael’s seductive wide-screen sound and showcases her unique blend of alt-folk and electronic music with the sounds of her native Chili along with lyrics that bare her spiritual philosophy.
At Berklee, Yael began to "internalize that music was a spiritual and ethnic tradition to different cultures of the world,” she says. “I became interested in how that influenced me while I was growing up without being aware of it.” Yael also began exploring music in a more general way, delving deep into experimental electronic music and absorbing as much as she could from the influences around her. “I explored my voice by both writing my own pop songs and performing with very experimental bands fusing the two.”
The title track on the album, with its tribal rhythms mixed with an EDM sheen, recalls both Feist and Beth Orton, and lyrically defines the frailty that lies beneath Yael’s brave exterior: “I’m a lover with no game/And I got no one to blame/For the ailings in my warrior heart.”
"The song is about inner power and that we all have to fight for what we believe in and step up in the game of life,” says Meyer. “But the song also shows a certain vulnerability. Even though this inner strength is something that I think connects us as humans, I also think that most of us struggle as well with self doubt, trying to figure out our own way in life while trying at the same time to harness the strength to pursue what inspires us.”
Other influences on Warrior Heart include the roots folk of “When the Road Ends”, the ever-changing cycle of birth and death in “Carry On”, the gentle nursery rhyme feel of “Endless Kind Love”, the percussive drums of the Spanish-language “Yo Soy”, the techno feel of “Human Divine”, the ambient “Vessel”, the reggae-flavored “Good things Are Coming My Way” and the lullaby to her children, “Rain Falling”. In addition to singing, Meyer plays guitar, percussion, keyboards, piano and ukulele on the album.
“When I write a song, I just want to be as honest as possible and speak truthfully in the least complicated way I can,” continiues Yael. “When I get into the studio, I want the music to paint a picture so that every part of your body feels something. I want it to be a sensory experience.”
"The things that make us happy, that make us cry, feel vulnerable and alive. Those human emotions are what connect us. Music is the space where we all come together to share that experience.”
Take an advance listen to three tracks from Warrior Heart, available for free download at Yael Meyer’s website.
Yael Meyer performed at Lollapalooza Chile last year alongside Bjork, Foster the People and more and her music has been heard in TV shows such as Parenthood, Private Practice and a number of MTV shows (Awkward, 16 Pregnant, Zach Stone) as well as in feature films such as Eli Roth's recent, Aftershock.
