Emerging from the Pacific Northwest’s lush musical undergrowth, Taiwanese-American artist sarya returns with a spellbinding new single, ‘ARE YOU A TREE?’ — a quiet yet emotionally resonant track that blurs the lines between lofi intimacy and electronic dreamscape.
The song, released this week, is a poetic meditation on solitude, reconnection, and the fleeting clarity found in nature. Inspired by a solitary hike at Rattlesnake Ledge in Washington state, ‘ARE YOU A TREE?’ captures the surreal and tender moment sarya experienced while overlooking a lake — imagining submerged trees as people and feeling both achingly alone and suddenly alive.
“The first person or thing that makes you really feel something after a period of numbness can be the most heartbreakingly relieving emotion,” sarya shares. “Even if it’s fleeting, it reminds you to live — and that you will love again.”
Layered with lofi beats, soft synth textures, and the 8-bit sonic fingerprints reminiscent of classic video games, the single continues sarya’s genre-fluid exploration of feeling and form. Their roots in spoken word and DIY music scenes are evident in the song’s diaristic lyrics and glitched-out tenderness — a sonic journal entry that drifts between melancholy and wonder.
sarya, currently based in Seattle, is no stranger to crafting deeply personal music that resonates beyond borders. With previous creative periods in Taipei and Edinburgh, their sound holds a global pulse — blending Eastern and Western influences with lyrical introspection. Their 2020 track “i don’t know where i’m going but that’s okay” was named #1 song of new Scottish music by The Herald Scotland, and their 2022 EP “take care of yourself” has garnered over 1 million streams across platforms.
Listen to the new single below:
