Emergence is a sonic exploration between radiance and turbulence, activism and mysticism, electronic and organic matter, natural grit and supernatural wonder. It is about finding a renewed sense of action and mobility by connecting personal hardship to collective purpose.

Some tracks are postcards from the early pandemic and are delivered with an urgency to catalyze change within cracking systems. Other tracks are a journey back to the ashes of grief and lost worlds in order to find closure and rebirth. This album is a memory palace that has caught fire while help is on the way. It is a symbol of stepping into some aspect of ourselves that we were afraid of, and about finding agency, strength, and compassion after surviving trauma.

When I jumped through a doorway that was spitting fire in 2017 to survive arson, I told myself I would never hesitate to do anything again. It took me right up until this year, and this present moment with you, to truly follow through on that promise by releasing this album.

This is not just an album release, it’s a letting go of my own self-doubt, apprehension, and fear. It’s about releasing myself from hiding, and no longer being held captive in the tower of my own head by that piece of myself that has been so hyper-focused on error, and potential for failure.

For so many years I was terrified of fully outing myself as an independent musical artist. I’ve always kept my music largely hidden, and perceived it as a spiritual practice that ‘wasn’t allowed’ to connect with the outside world. Later on, I realized that I was using this as an excuse to shroud my creative efforts behind layers of rickety confidence and nerves.

At some point the game of vicious external comparisons with other artists, and the internal nitpicking needs to end, if only with the humbling realization that what you are creating might mean SOMETHING to SOMEONE out there; it has to be worth it, even if only on a shooting star’s chance that you can help one other person feel less lonely and more connected to their own human condition.

The inner critic & eminent saboteur, no matter how riddled with insomnia they are, must go to sleep at some point in order for the real you to wake up. This album is a challenge to myself to unapologetically wake up and arrive. It’s time to start wearing my heart on my sleeve and my soul on my tongue, to not camouflage or deflect as a defence mechanism, and to not feel the burning need to incessantly justify my ‘outed’ creative existence to myself anymore––it's time to stop burying my passion alive.

This is a release in every sense, about putting my intention and energy out there for the first time with an album that I needed to get out of my system as part of my personal healing before venturing into more sparkly pastures. It's a letting go in order to make space for a flow of new creation and sharing, regardless of how many people engage with or like the content.

This album is a tribute to those personal moments that feel darkest before the dawn. It is my hope that sharing some of these experiences of suffering, growth, and longing through art can invoke a communal feeling of healing and catharsis—to bring darkness to light, to move you in any way, to believe in our human capacity to spark change.

Thank you so much for embarking on this journey with me, it's only just begun. Happy Solstice!

~Bagat


Bagat [bag-aht]: derived from my last name
Bagatto (Italian) / Bagatelle (French): the Magician tarot card
Bhagat (Sanskrit): devotee, from the Sanskrit word Bhakti, which means devotion and love
bagatî (Russian): “smouldering fire”
Bagat: music to spark hearts