Sarah Jane Scouten Shares 'Wanderlust' Documentary As New Album Arrives

09-15-2023

(BHM) Canadian folk/country artist Sarah Jane Scouten shares her rugged, nostalgic fourth studio album Turned to Gold, out everywhere now. Alongside the full, optimal roadtrip soundtrack album is a short film entitled "Wanderlust' that dissects the project and Scouten's life as an herbalist living in Southwest Scotland here as well as track "Crocodile Tears" out now. Plus, Sarah Jane Scouten officially announces a fall tour across Canada, parts of the UK and Dublin.

The creation of Scouten's road-trip-salt-air filled fourth studio album Turned to Gold, out today, inspired her to continue to pursue music professionally. Before 2020, she was burned out and knew that it wouldn't do herself, the music, or the audience any justice to continue. By March 2020, she planned to become a medical herbalist and let her music career fade away. It was through this process she came back to songwriting, but this time, with more perspective and clarity.

Scouten shares, "I've been galvanised by certain experiences and found the vulnerability to write about them. Thinking back on my songwriting I feel like the death doula of songwriters and certainly there are some songs on 'Turned to Gold' that go there. Learning therapeutic skills, I'm better equipped to hold space for people who connect to my songs in intense ways." The intimate, cathartic collection spans the vast spectrum of human emotions-wading through darkness and finding much needed light and unapologetic joy.

Producer Johnny Payne calls Scouten a "true artist" and "a joy to produce." Taking listeners into the moments behind the music, Payne adds, "We built her a little vocal room within the studio room so that she could dance while she sang without being seen. But sometimes, during certain poses, her arms would peek over the top of the walls as she performed. Those were usually the best takes." True to form, Payne says on breaks, Scouten would urban forage for herbs in the fields and gardens of East Vancouver.

Today, Scouten has found her love of herbal medicine has deeply nourished her artistry and the person she has become. Scouten continues, "Herbal medicine has become a part of me and something I do alongside music, in the same way some artists are carpenters, graphic designers or instrument makers. Sometimes the things we do outside of music makes us better and more intriguing as artists. I'd like to think this applies to my music."

Join Scouten as she takes listeners behind the scenes on the making of Turned to Gold, and brings listeners into her life in Scotland. Made in May 2023, filmmakers Thomas Dibb and Mark Lewis with Northern Cowboy Films were swiftly charmed by Scouten's village of Moniaive, Ireland and began to dig deep into the album making process with Scouten providing a tour and earnest narration of the album's themes and inspirations. Filled with pride for the film and a project that is a culmination of her life in the last several years, Scouten is thrilled with the results and enjoyed collaborating with the filmmakers. Scouten says, "They also knew how to draw a story out of me and take beautiful images. It seems like they captured a threshold in my life, stepping out of the last four years of intense study back into my life as a musician, but more grown up and fortified by my experiences."