Hailing from Powers, Oregon, folk-duo Najas is made up of Myco Stassens (guitars, lead vocals) and his niece Meadow Stassens (banjos, vocals). After initially releasing a bare cut of their new single in early 2023, on July 7th a revamped and more polished version of Gift Horse was released across streaming services. We were pleased to be able to push a couple questions over to Najas and today we welcome them as our featured interview.
When we were first introduced you mentioned your sound is similar to that of Elliott Smith or Neil Young, so of course I had to give your new track “Gift Horse” a spin – and you really delivered on it. You can hear the Elliott Smith influence almost immediately – it’s almost nostalgic in a way to a fan like me while breathing completely fresh air into the style. Care to indulge me with your favourite Elliott Smith record or track?
Myco: Coming Up Roses. There’s this song structure I like that has no second verse, he does it again in “A Passing Feeling”. I love it because the momentum keeps going and the guitars get plenty of time. I find it hard to tell a whole story without the second verse, so I haven’t pulled it off yet. Maybe one day.
Was this style an intentional direction for Najas or did you find you just sort of stumble into it?
Myco/Meadow: We have limited equipment and recording knowledge, so we try to find music that has that roughness and love it quite a lot. It helps us see that quality as a strength rather than something that’s going to hold us back.
It’s not often we meet a duo composed of uncle and niece; How did you first decide you’d like to begin playing and writing together, or was this a family tradition of sorts that just happened organically?
Myco/Meadow: We’re only a couple years apart and there was a lot of music in our house. We played together off and on for fun until we were grown, then decided to make up a name and everything. To work well together you kind of have to be the same in one way and opposite in another, and that’s us.
Lyrically I find “Gift Horse” to be quite dark and almost foreboding in the sense that it seems to be warning the listener or its subject of the potential dangers life can bring you. It’s really interesting how stylistically it has the complete opposite effect and is very soothing to listen to. What would you consider the main message or feeling you’d want listeners to take away from the track?
Myco: It’s a kind of cautionary tale, how guilt or regret might catch up to you.
I’m glad that the contrast comes through, because I don’t think it’d be a single epiphany. I think the feeling would creep up on you.
You’ve said your songwriting is influenced in part by old ghost stories and I think I hear that coming through here. Have either of you ever had a paranormal or oddly spiritual experience or do you believe in such things in a tangible sense?
Myco: Only in the spiritual sense. Stories like that are so cool because they invite you back to your imagination. I have an idea that just beyond fear are your best ideas. I like the feeling that anything is possible.
Meadow: I’ve had a lot of premonition dreams that were too crazy to be coincidence. We know so much more than we think. Stephen Gaskin says we can all read minds, we just pretend we can’t.
The video looks like it was shot at what I assume to be your home farm. Who directed the video and what was the inspiration behind it?
Myco/Meadow: We made it with a phone. There is an old story that has a lot of versions, but generally you find a bone or a toe and that night, hear someone calling for it and coming to get it. Part of the theme of Gift Horse is greed, and we thought that I could take the antlers and then be haunted or possessed by them in my house later.
When you’re not working on music or coming across animal bones on the farm, how do you spend your free time?
Myco: We’re just now getting the first blackberries of the season. We’re getting ready for the harvest and excited to cook them on a fire.
Meadow: I’ve started painting murals around our farm to make it into another world.
I love how much the guitars really drive this track but it sits so far in the mix, allowing the vocals to really take center stage. Even the drums when they enter and pushed quite far back which really lends itself to the storytelling in an almost ominous way. Is there a producer, engineer or even another artist with a particular style that this was motivated or influenced by?
Myco/Meadow: We imagined dirty guitars and soft drums, so we used Alabama by Neil Young as a reference. It’s not a country song, more like a rock song in the country, and that’s the dream!
The recording of “Gift Horse” features Tyler Fortier on bass and Nate Barnes on drums. What’s one thing you really enjoyed about collaborating with them on this track?
Myco/Meadow: We love Tyler’s taste and he always gets where we’re coming from. There’s this Jeffrey Martin song we love called Billy Burroughs that he did a few years ago. We’ve never met Nate, but love what he did on the song. He did a few different takes and we ended up mixing two together to get the softness in the beginning and the harder stuff later.
Do either of you play additional instruments outside of guitar and banjo, or are there any on your radar to pick up and dabble on in the future?
Myco: I learned ukulele first, and I’m still very entertained by guitar, but if I found an old dobro I would get it because technically, it is a guitar. I could work on both at the same time.
Meadow: I’d like to play guitar. I already know a lot of the shapes from following along when Myco plays.
Is there a full-length album or EP in the works to follow “Gift Horse”? What can listeners expect next?
Myco/Meadow: There are other songs we’ll record as soon as we’re financially able. We try not to go into the production phase with a bunch of concrete ideas because you never know what is going to sound best. We have this song in mind, it’s more sweet. That’ll be next unless we have a better idea in the meantime. That can happen.
Something I’ve started to become more curious about when I have the chance to speak with artists is, how do you find yourself most commonly discovering new artists these days? Are you more likely to check something out on Spotify or Apple Music or similar or are you heading to local gigs to see who’s causing a scene?
Myco: I’m a fan of Pitchfork, theneedledrop, and interviews with my favorite artists. There are some good leads out there.
On that same note, who is someone we probably haven’t heard of yet making waves in your scene or circle that we should check out?
Myco/Meadow: Death Doula in Portland is great. She’s kind of Cat Power/Portishead spirit.
Finally, what’s one thing you love about Oregon and if we were to pay the state a visit, what do you most recommend we check out?
Myco/Meadow: Upper Coquille Falls in the summer is a dream! There are different levels, some are like infinity pools and some are wilder. You could spend all day there!
Thanks very much for your time today Najas!
Keep up with Najas by visiting their website and following their social media channels.
Crooked Forest 
Najas are wonderful! It is a pleasure to know them , hear thier music , and experience thier growth and actualization.
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