Eyemèr - The Art of Being Queer Podcast - S2 E1

The first episode of the second season features Eyemèr, a non-binary singer/songwriter. We discuss their mesmerizing new EP "Good Mourning To You", mental health and being non-binary.

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Eyemèr presents brand-new EP ‘Good Mourning To You’

Almost four years after their debut-album ‘Temporarily Colourblind’, Eyemèr returns with a new EP called ‘Good Mourning To You’. The record focuses on themes of mental health and non-binary gender identity.

The title ‘Good Mourning To You’ is a play on words. It refers to the grieving process that Eyemèr went through when they lost someone to suicide. When someone dies in such a way, feelings of guilt often haunt those who are left behind. In addition, Eyemèr experienced a process similar to ‘mourning’ when someone in their family could no longer be truly present due to a mental illness. With the saying ‘Good Mourning To You’, Eyemèr wants to uplift those who are currently processing a loss.

For many years already, Eyemèr has been working to break the stigma surrounding mental health using melancholic indie sounds and activist lyrics. Since 2018, which marks the year the artist came out of the closet as non-binary (not man or woman), they have also started writing about their genderqueerness. Eyemèr hopes to spotlight both the mental health theme and non-binary theme and normalize these.

In order to be able to finance the new record, Eyemèr launched a crowdfunding campaign through which fans and patrons could invest in the new record for a period of thirty days. Depending on the amount of money which was pledged, investors could receive either a symbolic smile, an EP, or an intimate living room concert in exchange. The campaign was a success and even surpassed the goal amount of 3.500€.

Eyemèr (pseudonym of Sarah Devreese) is a singer-songwriter whose style can be compared to artists such as Soko, Daughter, Bon Iver, and Waxahatchee. In 2014, the artist became a finalist in Humo’s Rock Rally. They have also been an opening act for known Belgian musicians such as Marble Sounds and Isbells. For their new EP, the singer-songwriter has collaborated with Michiel De Maeseneer (known for productions for among others Balthazar and Bazart) and Tomas Van Hove.