Compassion - The Black Seeds

The Black Seeds return to the fold with their quintessential Aotearoa sound, and conscious roots ethos, on their new single, ‘Compassion’.

A heavy and unapologetic nugget of conscious roots. ‘Compassion’ is the first new music from Te Wanganui-a-Tara legends in two years and reaffirms that The Black Seeds are still at the forefront of original roots, reggae and dub in Aotearoa.

Mixed and engineered by Dr Lee Prebble and mastered by Mike Gibson, ‘Compassion’ has a powerful rhythm section, steeped in the foundations of classic dub; laying the bedrock for co-founder Daniel Weetman’s vocals to soar.

With lyrics straight to the point – honest, bold, and courageous; reinforced by a memorable horn line, the new single marks a welcome return to The Black Seeds’ distinctive sound and philosophy.

Our bass player, Francis Harawira, created the bassline whilst participating in the Toitū Te Tiriti / Treaty Principles Bill Hikoi channelling the feeling of the time of Kotahitanga or unity/solidarity. 

“the bass line really clicked with the band while we were in Wellington for a demo session. It just had the right feel from the start,” says Weetman.“After a quick listen, I decided to give it another go and started working on the verses. The band was into it, and with that bit of encouragement and direction, taking inspiration from us all being together, the song finally started to take shape.”

Lyrically, ‘Compassion’ hits hard. “With growing division in the world, it feels like a scary time for all of us to be living. I wanted to write something about unity and love, because I believe that’s what we naturally turn toward in times like these. When those in power try to spread division through fear, it’s easy to lose sight of everything we share: our common humanity and compassion for one another,” says Weetman.