Press play on “Haven.” For the first thirty seconds, it’s just a piano and a voice. You’ve heard this setup a million times. But the opening question feels less like a dramatic lyric and more like a genuine, tired thought. Then, around 40 seconds in, a cello enters. It’s not playing a grand melody – it just sighs into the track, and that’s when you feel the first chill. The way it’s arranged, courtesy of producer Alex Venguer, is the first clue that this isn’t a standard ballad.
This is the work of SAVARRE™, the musical project of Shannon Denise Evans. The more you listen, the more you realize she’s a storyteller first. It makes perfect sense when you learn she’s also an award-winning filmmaker and playwright. The entire song is structured like a scene. The drums enter not with a crash, but with a slow, steady pulse, and as the tension builds, every layer remains distinct—a credit to the clean production, recorded at Power Station at Berklee NYC and mastered by Greg Calbi. When Evans’ voice rises to sing about a “sacred” place, it feels more like a dawning, panicked realization.
Then comes the part that makes the song unforgettable: the second verse. The music quiets, and she speaks directly to her mother. The line, “No cross can numb the weight of your sin,” is delivered with a cold precision that’s more cutting than any scream. It’s the moment the song’s theme of violated trust becomes brutally specific.
From there, it’s an escalation. The music swells and fractures, and when her voice finally cracks into repeated shouts of “Let me go,” it’s urgent and unguarded. The track, released in March 2020, still feels immediate and piercing. It doesn’t end with a neat resolution, but with a final, whispered question that hangs in the silence: “…How do I get out alive?”.
It’s a harrowing five-minute journey. But what reframes it all is knowing Evans’ own perspective. She’s spoken about how we’ve all had our boundaries violated, and about her hope to be a haven for others—a safe space for survivors. Suddenly, the darkness of the song isn’t just darkness, it’s the necessary journey one takes to find or create that safety. The song is the poison, and the artist’s intent is the antidote.
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