Notes

We Were Seeds

The first track of the album takes its name from the well-known phrase: "They buried us, but they didn’t know we were seeds."Often attributed to the Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, the quote has become a symbol of resistance, survival, and quiet strength in the face of oppression. In this piece, we draw inspiration from Chamar, a mourning or lament dance from the southwest of Iran. Traditionally performed with sorna (an ancient double-reed wind instrument) and dohol (a deep bass drum), Chamar expresses collective grief through rhythm and breath. We sought to echo its essence by recreating the continuous sound of circular breathing used in sorna playing with long sustained dissonance tones played on violin and viola, and the grounded, heavy steps mirrored in the drum patterns. The melodies we created in the middle section of this movement were inspired by videos we watched from Iran including images of funerals, protest gatherings, and families mourning the loss of young lives lost.

Mehr – Zar – Mah

This three part suite-like movement pays homage to many women who shaped our lives as "unknown heroes", especially our grandmothers.

Mehr means "love."
Zar means "gold," and also evokes sunlight.
Mah means "moon."

When you listen to Mah, you might close your eyes and find yourself drifting into landscapes and dreams — a space of memory, warmth, and gentle transformation.

Those Green Young Hands

This piece brings together two iconic women from very different times: Forough Farrokhzad, the trailblazing progressive poet, and Qamar-ol-Molouk Vaziri, the pioneering singer of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution era. Though generations apart, both women were revolutionary in their voices, their artistry, and their fearless presence in the society. Their combined spirit inspired us to use our own voices — quite literally. We sing lines from Forough's poem "Let us believe in the beginning of the cold season", weaving them together with quotes from Qamar’s singing. Qamar’s powerful voice, which sadly fell silent far too soon, lives on in rare recordings and unforgettable portraits of her authenticity. We drew rhythmic motifs and melodic fragments from Qamar’s singing, arranging them using elements of chance music — creating something new, something that ultimately reflects us: Kimia and Sarvin, two artists shaped by these women’s legacies.

time passed,
time passed and the clock struck four,
struck four times.
today is the winter solstice.
I know the season’s secrets...

the wind is blowing through the street,
the beginning of ruination.

I am cold,
I am cold, and it would appear
that I will never be warm again...

I am naked, naked, naked,
as silence between the words of love.
And all my wounds come from love, from loving...

Will I ever again
plant pansies in the garden,
set geraniums in the sky?

I said to Mother: It’s all over now.
We must send condolences...
(Forough Farrokhzad)

Sol – Stan – Winden I

This piece is inspired by Sindokht, a wise and eloquent woman from the Shahnameh — the Persian epic written by Ferdowsi in the 10th century. Unlike many women in mythology, Sindokht is not a symbol but an agent: through her intelligence and diplomacy, she averts war between Iran and its neighbor.  The title of this track combines ancient words for Sun (Sol), Stone (Stan), and Wind (Winden). To imagine the music of Sindokht’s time, we explored the ritual music of Iranian Zoroastrians, including recitations of the Gathas — the oldest hymns of the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book. These ancient musical traditions, preserved across centuries, gave us a place to begin imagining her voice, her world, and her legacy.

Sol – Stan – Winden II

This track began as a rhythmic loop we created based on a specific set of pitches and rhythmic figures. Each cycle in this loop includes an equivalent of 11, 8th notes, repeating  2, 4, or 16 times. Once created, this loop works as a sound pad upon which we’d improvise or establish other melodic phrases. We recorded the loop in Vienna, in summer 2022, and later in May 2023 we developed it to emerge as a summary of the whole album — a sweeping reflection that gathers all the fragments, stories, and sounds into one final glance. It’s like looking back over a long path and seeing, with clarity, just how far we've come in telling our story through Neera.