Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Syms.
Hi Sara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I’ve been involved in some form of performing and music for the majority of my life.
Started playing piano and violin at age 5, was part of a world-renowned children’s choir called The Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus (now Anime Singers), was an internationally competitive figure skater, and the performance bug bit me when asked to sing in my friend’s band while living in NYC in my mid-20s.
I was in bands for years. My friends would all come support and at some point they were all like, you need to stop joining bands and start your own project. Everyone that comes, is there to see you. Truth was, as a competitively driven perfectionist, I was always scared to write my own music. Afraid it wouldn’t be good enough, would be too personal, too sad.
Before my solo project, I spearheaded a band called The Ashen. To date, it’s some of my favorite music I’ve written because there were no guardrails. Just pure creative from the heart. It was more electronica/ethereal in the vein of Portishead, Warpaint, Zero 7, and Massive Attack and definitely an influence on the dual artist styles of mine; the ethereal atmospheric quality to my songs. When I moved into my self-titled project, that’s when more of the folk, grit, roots, and Americana came into play.
After years on the scene in NYC and Nashville, I took a needed step back from the industry a few years ago. The pressure I was putting on myself as an artist paired with the highly competitive nature of the business, was starting to take a toxic toll on my spirit and psyche. It was also a time to focus on family, a geographic move to be closer to my partner’s two beautiful daughters, helping them become a stable pillar in their lives.
During my industry hiatus, I began working on a cathartic collection of songs that would become my upcoming album, The Darkest Light. Though this album was helping me work through my struggles with depression and anxiety over the years, there were eerie parallels to what the human collective was experiencing through the pandemic, political polarization, and catastrophic unknowns.
Where everything we thought we knew, was questioned. Nowhere to run but sit with ourselves, and somehow find our way back to the light. We live in a world of dichotomies. The sweet and the sour, the tough and the tender, the dark and the light. We can’t have one without the other.
And the darkest parts of us, the ones hiding in the shadows, have the most beautiful teachings to offer us if we are willing to go there. This album is my homecoming and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I am grateful for all I have but have definitely experienced life-altering highs and lows throughout my life. I am a pretty sensitive soul that tends to carry the weight of the world. I am a double water sign (cancer moon, cancer sun) and very empathic.
I wasn’t always this way and tried hard to mask my gifts and emotions. Through hyper-productivity, substance abuse, and denial, keeping every moment filled with something allowed me to avoid all internal chaos. My mom passed away when I was 19 and my world shattered.
Music is something I so intimately shared with her. She was a folk singer and though both my parents supported my love for the arts, my mom was by my side every step of the way. After she passed away, I needed to rediscover music for myself. She loved music so much and I feel very connected to her through song. It’s hard sometimes to separate the joy from the sadness.
I have also struggled for the bulk of my adult life with severe depression and anxiety. This past summer (’21) I checked into residential treatment for the first time in my life. I was in an incredibly dark and scary place and it takes a lot of courage to ask for help when you need it and to face things head-on you’ve been running from for a lifetime.
I clocked over 300 hours of trauma work at Integrative Life Center here in Nashville and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through, but one of the most rewarding. To look at yourself under a microscope and strip it down to nothing so you can rebuild, takes a warrior spirit.
I want to be an advocate and an open door when it comes to mental health and breaking down the stigma that comes with it. I am not afraid to share my struggles and want to use my music to help others heal.
Aside from regular performing gigs, I’d love to find a way to share my gift with rehab centers, healing centers, retirement homes, sick kids, etc. Conversational healing through song.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I hold jobs both as a creative director and a musician. But at the end of the day, I am a storyteller. Whether it is my day job in advertising, or my music career, adding beauty to the world, and making people feel something is what drives me. Using all the senses to stimulate emotion.
I write from the heart. A lot of my songs are introspective. Trying to work out feelings, unknowns, sadness, and inner struggles. Some songs are stories from other people’s perspectives but most are from mine. I will occasionally do it from the collective perspective as in, we are all in this together. I write a lot, not just songs. And that is great fuel for future compositions. I feel everything.
I am most proud of holding onto my authenticity and not compromising my craft to fit into an industry mold or template. My music is not for everyone. I have no interest in following a formulaic approach to appeal more to the masses. All my albums have a story to tell.
A journey from beginning to end. How records used to be. Even though it has become a single and streaming world, I will continue to create experiences and collections of songs, intended to be listened to in the order they unfold on the album.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Everyone I meet along the way deserves credit.
The intimate connections in the room, a moment frozen in time. I have met so many wonderful people I am still friends with years later, that might have been a random individual I never knew that attended one of my shows, that came up to me after to introduce themselves.
Since I tend to write about more serious subject matters, death, loss, etc. I have talked with a lot of people after shows about how a certain song connected with them, or a song really helped them get through a recent death in the family, etc. My parents, especially my mom gets the OG cheerleader award. She lived her life solely for my brother and me and was so proud of everything we did.
I also have an incredibly supportive partner and am able to help guide his oldest daughter (21, vocal performance major at Belmont) along with her music career as well. It’s so awesome to be able to be a mentor to someone at the start of what will be a very successful blossoming career.
As I try and move into the healing space a little more (rehab, treatment centers, etc.) I can only imagine the beautiful blessings and takeaways, of connecting with brave warriors in the fight for their lives. Some musicians crave sold-out stadiums, give me 1 soul connection, face to face, and my cup is filled for life.
Contact Info:
- Website: sarasyms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarasyms
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ssymsmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarasyms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sarasyms
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sarasymsmusic
- Other: https://linktr.ee/sarasyms
Image Credits:
Marcelo Krasilcic, Amy Postle, and Laura Schneider
