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May 06, 2025 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Sarah Frank

Chicago-based singer/songwriter Elijah Berlow makes earthen and homespun Americana, conjuring playful folk narratives laced with a dusty, well-worn naturalism. He debuted in 2022 with his first album, Put Out Fires, and last year he shared a new single, “Harvest Fields”, a duet with fellow Chicagoan Hannah Frey. This year, he’s set to share a pair of two new singles, the first of which, “sacred”, is out today, premiering with Under the Radar.

Berlow’s latest track is a meditative hymn to the natural world, traced with a delicate dance of fingerpicked guitars and spacious droning undertones. It shines with a warm, sun-dappled luster, subtly growing tense and impassioned before quickly pulling back into a steady, reflective state. The guitars swell as the fervor of Berlow’s vocals ebbs and flows, offering a restless delivery that recalls the plaintive intensity of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. Yet, the track stays continually rooted in a thoughtful and poetic space as the lyrics explore Berlow’s connection to the natural world around him: “I don’t need to get going / But I need to get going / For every ounce of Arizona is sacred / For I’ll always finish my time / And I’ll always finish my plate / For every second that we take is sacred.”

Berlow says of the track, “I wanted to voice to the rising cynical nihilism that arises when we are so disconnected from each other but also with nature especially. This chasm-like space we put between us and the creatures, plants, and landscapes that not only feed and nourish us but are integral to our existence — yet we see them as separate. Spaces to be used rather than regarded as parts of our own being. I wanted to play with this idea of apartness, which is so connected to a way of imagining different spirits of understanding and existing in the continuing and rapid change of the ecosphere we will have to inhabit.”

Check out the song and video below, out everywhere now.