SAER – “My Heart Has Been Caged”
UK-based SAER returns to us with “My Heart Has Been Caged,” a meditation on suppressed, unspoken love and the emotional paralysis that comes from keeping desire locked away.
This song reaches directly into you with the press of the play button, as swells of strings and vocal textures are cinematically spread across the top of acoustic guitar chords. These waves recede to reveal SAER’s raw vocal performance, which delivers lyrics about emotional attachment, the desire to love freely, and the psychological burden of it all.
A subtle harmony adds weight to the track’s sense of vulnerability, and we find ourselves not only believing every word, but also vicariously experiencing them. Anyone who’s ever found themselves confined within the prison of an unhealthy attachment will be reminded either of how terrible they once felt or how strong they are for having escaped.
On the refrain, SAER’s upper register will likely move you in the way Jeff Buckley ripped out your heart with “Lover, You Should Have Come Over,” delivering something that is just as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, and we struggle to decide which emotion we’d rather feel. By the midpoint, a barebones rhythm section arrives, inviting an additional level to our wonderful misery.
Between the dramatic waves of orchestral elements and layers upon layers of vocals, “My Heart Has Been Caged” will stir up some memories you’ve spent years trying to suppress, but take comfort in the fact that you are not alone and empathy is just a click away.