Trust in the Blue and Navigate into the Unknown with Ram Dass' new single.

Trust in the Blue, Ram Dass' third single comes as a whisper of a wise friend holding our hand through a difficult moment in life. A song full of hope and comfort, an answer to a deep longing of feeling safe, loved and held. 

Once again, we witness the power of music to accompany each of our experiences in life, from the most joyous moments to the ones that turns us inside out.

We are honored to share this new music from Ram Dass' heart. Learn more about the story and the journey behind the song in the following interview. 

Can you tell us the story behind this hopeful song? 

Ram Dass: “Trust In The Blue” is about maturing and coping with the unknown. Losing my son made me become an adult quickly and the dreams I had before disappeared in an instant. Faced with an existential crisis, I tried to reconcile the reality that good and bad all happen at once, that I had no idea what I was doing, and that messing up along the way was absolutely perfect, no matter how uncomfortable the experience. In a way, this song could be seen as a message to myself as my own friend, trying to give myself the reminder that I’m doing great even though things are so hard. It’s simultaneously autobiographical but has elements that are included for poetry’s sake.

It feels like each song you release we are invited to observe and explore a profound journey through a healing process. What has been your experience writing and composing this song, observing your own transformation from pain and anger to hope and encouragement?

Ram Dass: I wish there was more catharsis involved in the story, but it’s honestly relatively simple. I knew I needed to write these songs but I didn’t know what they were and I had a bit of a block about them. Writing lyrics about something so profound, emotional, and life changing felt daunting and like the words could never say all that I felt. I started working with a songwriting partner named KJ Song, and we got together and just started getting ideas down on paper and melodies recorded in voice memos. In a way, the songs wrote themselves. Now that they are done and getting released, I feel a sense of weight lifted— not only that I’ve told this story, but also that I feel like the songs are beautiful and helpful. Emotionally, I can’t say that I was angry and in pain before and didn’t have hope— the hope always existed with the “harder” feelings. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5mobPurm6A

Your music has had a very interesting transformation over the years, from mostly uplifting mantra music to the exploration of deep human emotions. Both equally inspiring and beautiful. What would you say is the difference between your older catalog and the new music you are producing? 

Ram Dass: I have always tried to express my humanity in the music I produce, but as I have gotten older, different things have started to interest me. In my first solo record ‘The Alchemist’s Prayer’ I was really interested in making musical masterpieces behind the mantras. I used all sorts of orchestrations and called on inspiration from classical composers and the flavors of my close colleagues. My aesthetic is a lot more simple now. I love those textures,  but I’m not trying to create soundscapes with tons of instruments; I’m trying to say as much as I can as elegantly as possible without feeling like I need to add more elements in. For ‘And Now He Has Wings’ we really just built on electronic drums, guitar, violin, and vocals. It’s relatively uncomplicated. For these songs like “Niagara” and “Trust in the Blue”, it’s stripped down just to guitar, vocals, and strings. I love how much emotion can come out of a few beautifully played elements.

You have previously released the song “The Unimaginable”, both expressing a trust beyond what is real to our eyes. Can you talk more about this? What inspires you with this kind of trust? When do you feel it the most? 

Ram Dass: “The Unimaginable” was a feeling and future that I learned that I could look toward when my life was falling apart. I found out that I was able to feel massive happiness despite being in lots of pain and emotional anguish. The idea that there is an “unimaginable happiness” is taking the idea of knowing the circumstances of what it takes to be happy and instead finding oneself in a happy place. That is how I find it most- rather than trying to be happy, I keep looking for the beauty in the world and happy moments keep springing up, especially in the liminal spaces, between big events. It’s like trying to find joy in doing laundry or kitchen cleaning so that you’re not reliant on big accomplishments to feel complete and content.