Vancouver-based harpist, vocalist, and composer Elisa Thorn shares her latest single, “The Garden,” a gentle, nostalgic, and experimental folk track that reflects on memory, grief, and the inner landscape of the self across time.

Inspired by a long-form sound collage Thorn created in 2021 called The Years In Between, “The Garden” explores the idea that all versions of ourselves – past, present, and future – exist within us simultaneously. Through this sonic meditation, Thorn invites listeners to reflect on the idea of traveling across time to nurture the inner child, commune with our ancestors, or simply sit with the stillness of self-discovery.

The song’s title references a deeply personal moment: a final conversation between Thorn and her grandmother. As her grandmother lay on her deathbed, she whispered, “Don’t worry darling, I found the secret garden.” That phrase, and the spiritual peace it implied, became the heart of the song – a place that transcends time and holds space for healing.

“The Garden” was co-produced with David Vertesi, who contributed bass and helped shape the track’s ethereal atmosphere. Everything beyond the vocals and bass comes from the harp itself, transformed through creative sound design to stretch the instrument’s possibilities into dreamy, ambient textures. One of the track’s standout moments is the delayed harp line that closes the song; it’s one of Thorn‘s favourite parts to play live.

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 
The Garden refers to something my grandmother said to me on her deathbed, I was snuggling her in bed and started to cry because we knew she didn’t have much time left, and she told me “don’t worry darling, I found the secret garden.” I like to imagine it’s the spiritual place we all have access to that transcends time – we can access our lost loved ones, or ourselves in any moment. It’s a place I have return to a lot to offer care to my child self, or to look to the past or future for answers.The imagery of the willow tree is very important to this song – it is a place I imagined for my child-self to go when she needed to seek refuge from the outside world. It is an image that comes up alot in my dream – I often say “meet you by the willow tree” instead of “sweet dreams” to loved ones. 

2. What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)? 
Because of this, it was very easy to come up with a concept for the video – I knew that I wanted to place the visuals for this song somewhere just like described in the song – a willow tree next to a body of water. I chose to keep it very simple, as the song is also the most simple one from the forthcoming album – just me, the harp and bass, and the willow tree. I think it’s bold (perhaps risky) to make a video so simple in this age of the 3-second attention span, but this song intends to be meditative, still and peaceful, so I wanted to honour that with the video.

3. What was the process of making this video?
The main thing was to find the right location! Luckily in Vancouver we have many beautiful places to choose from, and my videographer suggested this spot we chose at a park I have never been to in South Vancouver. It was perfect! The whole thing had to come together VERY quickly because I was out of town until about a week before the song was coming out, so we had to film and edit on a super tight timeline. Luckily the videographer, Kuba Wiatrak, is an angel – and spent a few late nights working with me to get the edit done right.