Saera Fiøra – vocalist and songwriter crafting immersive experiences

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Kaiser.

Hi Sara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I felt it in my bones at age 11 that I was going to be a singer. Singing illuminated me like nothing else. I confidently shared my voice with large audiences, and sang every day. But as time went by I began to doubt myself more. I encountered more difficult experiences like audiences talking over me. I ended up shutting down completely for twenty years.

My voice surged back mid-pandemic when I realized I just couldn’t ignore this dream of mine anymore. I took a songwriting course with Ayla Nereo (who I later began working for and still support!), and it gave me the nudge I needed to reconnect with my voice and dive in. I bought a loop station which was a game-changer, because I didn’t play any instruments proficiently. I began performing open mics and then shows and festivals.

Over the next few years I began to learn how to record and produce using sample libraries. My music evolved from simple songs to cinematic compositions, filling out my sound and liberating my creativity. I began collaborating with my dear friend and now partner Shaun Diaz, a world class cellist and composer, which deeply supported my evolving sound. I released my first album, Unfurl, in 2024 and my second record as well as an atmospheric EP are well underway. I am now touring with an immersive show “Cosmic Wildflower” in which I weave a spoken word narrative through my songs, some which I perform with backing tracks, some with Shaun, and some live looping. Rooted in wonder and grief for our natural world during this delicate moment in time, the show invites audiences into a dreamlike space of reflection, connection, and beauty. It’s a space to process the immensity of the emotions of our time.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I would say it has been smooth in the sense that the songs just keep coming. I am never at a loss and never struggle with writer’s block. When it’s not time to write, I don’t write – I wait, and I’m really okay with that. I know other writers say “write every day” or “write a song every day for 30 days” but that does not work for me at ALL. For me, I follow the flow. Works often stay with me for a year or longer before they are ready, and that’s okay. I feel deeply blessed that my creative well provides so abundantly for me. I feel I can really trust my creative process, and that’s an incredible feeling.

Less smooth has been the learning journey. Learning to record and produce songs from scratch with no teacher is quite the undertaking. There’s a lot of technological considerations which isn’t always my strength. I have worked incredibly hard to learn how to create atmospheric and layered songs, and to create a live set that uses samples, backing tracks, and routing that I could never have figured out without Shaun. And as a non-instrumentalist (I’m only beginning to learn harp), creating instrumental layers is incredibly painstaking. It takes me a long time and it takes a lot of energy. If I’m a little tired, I can’t do it. On the other hand, vocal ideas come readily. It’s like magic, and though I appreciate that, you would also faint if you knew how many times I redid individual lines. It could be 100 times. I’m also a perfectionist so it can be really difficult and painful for me to say a song is ready. My last release had 17 fine-edit drafts. And that’s after months and months of actual composing and recording. And three years since first writing the song. And of course, it’s still not perfect – it never can be. I’m learning to embrace that.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I consider myself an artist of transmission. When I create something, it always has an emotional foundation. This ensures that I am creating something meaningful for the listener, something that is energetically imprinted with something that was very real for me.

My specialization is my vocals – all my songs include vocal harmonies and layers. I can’t imagine writing a song without vocal harmonies. Sometimes I’ll have over 20 layers in one song. I’ve received a lot of feedback that my vocal delivery is very compelling, and this also comes back to being an artist of transmission. It’s not that I have the most technically perfect voice, but I have really learned how to carry emotion – not too little, not too much, into my songs. This is an art form I am continually refining.

Beyond the vocals, my songs really stand apart in that they are deeply immersive. For me it is easy and natural to maneuver between the intimate and the expansive, the personal and the existential. And of course, the lyrics, which are simultaneously personal, literary, and poetic. Language lovers will catch my wordplay and literary and poetic references. I also incorporate spoken word very sparingly, which I haven’t really seen others do in their songs. I’m sure it’s out there, but not common.

My work is deeply nature-inspired, and informed by my immense concern and grief for the ways we have chosen to live. You’ll find in my song a lot of creatures, plants and animals, in the lyrics but also as field recordings. To me, they bring the songs to life.

I’m also authoring a speculative fiction novel “The Last Fern” which I release chapter by chapter on a podcast. This book interweaves with the album I’m currently working on, and both are stories that take place across worlds in collapse.

I’m most proud of my ability to follow my own creative pulse and not try to create “for” any particular genre or audience. I create from my soul and my heart, from the natural spaces and voices around me, and I am devoted to that.

What’s next?
Recently I have found myself in a profound transformation as an artist and a person. I’ve been drawing inward a lot, clarifying my values and what I really want for myself.

I’m focusing on establishing myself as an artist whose work is immersive, emotionally resonant, and carrying key messages for this delicate moment in time. My Cosmic Wildflower show is a big part of this emergence, as it helps to hold a space for grief, wonder, beauty, and awe. My ability to connect with the audience is a really big part of my artistry. I consider my time on stage to be not just an opportunity for expression, but also for meaningful connection.

I’m no longer chasing constant media output, which is demanded by today’s music industry, but rather tuning more deeply to this body of work that is functioning as a form of processing for a time of crisis on this planet. I seek listeners and collaborators who are drawn to layered, story-driven experiences – people who value depth, not just trend or entertainment. To my soul, I don’t have time for anything that isn’t aligned with my deepest values. I’m planning select live performances, releasing work that holds artistic weight, and aligning with spaces that elevate poetic, purposeful music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saerafiora.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saera.fiora.music/#
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7QmJzaQZbjw_Ly76gaJYg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hNOd2ACGi6IguI9ZF5psW

Image Credits
Photo 2 (of the series of 8): Anthony Blum / @Surprisinglysimple
Photo 5: Jane Berg @janebpicks
Photo 7: M Hundley @lucidempires