There’s a heightened reality to Martin Sagadin’s music. Singing with Slovenian lyrics and drawing on folk instrumentation, Sagadin creates contemplative, gentle pieces that breathe and sway. Their voice - delicate yet unwavering - carries a rare sincerity, turning vulnerability into quiet strength. On their upcoming album Martin Iz Zgornje Bele, Sagadin weaves together timeless sounds and intimate memories, creating a mosaic of transportive, glowing emotions.
Born in Kranj, Yugoslavia, Sagadin has lived in Aotearoa, New Zealand, for the past 19 years. In that time, they’ve become a sought-after filmmaker and the go-to director for music videos by Aldous Harding, Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams, and The Bats. Yet, Martin Iz Zgornje Bele stands apart from those collaborations, emerging as a deeply personal collection shaped by trust, stillness, and movement.
The seeds of the record trace back to a transient period in Sagadin’s life. “When I was first conceiving this music, I was mostly on the road, I didn’t have a permanent address,” Sagadin recalls. “My fan organ was at my friend Richard’s place, and I’d play it when visiting. Then my mum found a mandolin on the side of the road in Aro Valley in Wellington, so this is how these first songs came about. They are songs that came to me almost entirely fully formed - they demanded to be recorded and shared.”
Choosing to sing in their native Slovenian language felt instinctive, as a way of expressing emotions that transcend language barriers. “What at first seemed like a wall turned out to be a bridge when I added music, since this kind of expression allows for a kind of connection across the gap,” they say. “There has to be a kind of trust that things will work out, that the person across from you will understand you… The connection between me and another person who doesn’t understand the lyrics is never going to be complete, but that’s okay - none of our connections are ever truly complete. It's in the trying that the tree can bear fruit.”
Throughout the album, Martin Iz Zgornje Bele explores themes of transience, trust, and quiet longing, with handwritten lyrics capturing fleeting moments of being carried “in the river of life”. Sparse arrangements of fan organ, guitar, mandolin, cello, and glockenspiel join tocreate a hushed, patient space where small sounds bloom into something expansive.
