Whether it be from the sky, the sea, or a bicycle spoke, selena feliciano hears music coming from every direction. Local to the San Francisco Bay Area, she draws inspiration from a processing of the dualities of 21st century living–the good and bad, the built and the natural, the present and future. The result is her fresh upcoming EP, FROM EVERY DIRECTION, with songs rooted in memory, resistance, and the Earth we’ve nearly forgotten how to listen to.
If selena is planting seeds for new futures, we’re finally witnessing the fruits of her labor. With the release of FROM EVERY DIRECTION, she offers lyrics of grounded truths interspersed with expressions of hope. Pulling from years of environmental activism and experience in ensemble music projects sharing song and theatre across the country, this debut EP is a natural extension of her perspectives on a world still worth fighting for. selena invites others into her eternal optimism with open prompts that ask “why?” to the ills of our modern world. An organizer deeply embedded in the ongoing struggle for justice, she embeds herself in imagination to push the boundaries of visions of futures rooted in connection with the Land.
FROM EVERY DIRECTION marks selena’s first time collaborating and recording with a full band. Previously having recorded projects in makeshift DIY bedroom set-ups or on stages with live audiences, her departure from scrappy to studio marks an intentional shift in her music practice. Still, the project oozes a comfort and recording ingenuity that can only come from a band of friends. With written lyrics and melodies done for acoustic solo performance, selena handed herself to pure collaborative form, inviting Matt Takiff as producer (fiddle and guitar) and a strong musical partner steeped in folk tradition of group song.
“Music, for me, is about processing. The gift of song allows me to compost discomfort, pain, and grief while also planting the seeds for new realities. It’s an absolute ingredient of ongoing healing,” Selena says of the significance of music in her own practice and the community around her.
Today, Glide is premiering the EP’s first track, “The Prayer,” featuring over a dozen singers from diverse musical backgrounds, ranging from cumbia to choral. Recorded by Nick Pimentel in a 2-hour session at Bird and Egg Studios, “The Prayer” is an introduction to the spirit of the EP–rooted in the heart, disregarding perfection, and landing on what feels true.
The result is an intimate work of folk brimming with full group harmonies that capture the song’s spiritual tone, while sparse instrumentation provides a delicate soundtrack, keeping the passionate vocals in the spotlight. The song has a certain meandering, reflective beauty that speaks to its commentary on finding justice in a broken world. A cymbal swell by Liliana Urbain (drums) hints at the intentional percussive landscape, which has enough space to accommodate a diverse set of musical contributions, including guitar by Mateo Nube, as well as bass and keyboard by Jordan Lowe.
selena feliciano describes the inspiration and process behind the song:
I wrote The Prayer as an invocation; an offering to a world deserving of quietude and safety, yet stuck in a self-imposed cycle of grief. Unable to process my feelings witnessing the beginnings of genocide in the fall of 2023, I turned to pen and paper to tap song as a therapeutic tool. In the months that followed, I shared it in activist circles, living rooms, and gatherings, organically inviting others to hum or sing along as we found solace in the music, together.
Over a year later, in January 2025, I sat down to record this song at Wyldwood Studios in Richmond, CA for the EP. In my first single take, we landed the tone of voice and guitar that was chosen for the final mix, and hours later, invited a dozen friends from the Bay Area DIY music scene to form a bespoke choral ensemble in a whirlwind 2.5-hour recording session.
When asked about his reflections at the end of the session for The Prayer, our engineer responded with a powerful affirmation: “It felt like God was in the room with us.”
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One Response
Love her music. This is exactly what the world needs.