Sainte Vie Channels His Grief on Upcoming Album Pablo

Transforming raw grief into a beautiful composition has been a part of music since the start. From Paul McCartney to Mozart, and likely our cave-dwelling ancestors, many have sung and played about the loss of a loved one.

Sainte Vie, a Miami resident and Mexico City native DJ, producer, and label head, poured his heart into his upcoming album, Pablo. Despite being labeled as "melodic techno," the tracks are not just about purring synths and ethereal melodies. Instead, they are an homage to his late father, who passed away two years ago. "I was going through grief," Sainte Vie (AKA "Pablo Piña") tells New Times from his Miami home.

"My dad was someone who had a huge influence on my musical career. He introduced me to music; he was the first person to give me a CD. We went to concerts. We used to go to raves."

Piña's father, a lawyer, eventually quit his profession to become a furniture antiquarian. Equipped with an "artist's point of view," he deeply loved art and music. Piña and his father would regularly visit museums and attend concerts.

Piña's loss at first stifled his musical ambitions: "it wasn't easy to understand the meaning of grief," he recalls. But his emotions eventually sparked a fire within him to produce an album. Piña explains that he "wanted to communicate and express the emotions," illustrating the memories of talking about music, the two's love for dragonflies, and debriefing their dreams to each other.

"Expressing how I connected to him in all these different ways, the album doesn't just talk about my dad but about magic and incredible things that happen when you lose someone and they are still in touch with you. It's beautiful." Pablo comes out in October. Piña says the album will be around eight to ten tracks.

He decided to release the tracks piecemeal, however, through six singles, each accompanied by a music video. He released the first single "Light Beams" in February 2025. Strong undulations move in sync with the synths and remain steady throughout. Grand stab synths pierce through the foreground while a robotic voice speaks about light beams penetrating one's heart, leading you out of the darkness.
"The tracks explore the connection between my dad and me."

"Tres" is a nostalgic journey through childhood memories. The Spanish lyrics translate: "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful butterfly/Flying away to the magic and the stars/I saw the sign on the ground telling me/That you won't forget us two." In harmony with the vocals is a melancholic piano melody that evokes a sense of longing. Piña believes that a simple melody can convey profound emotions when executed well, as if it carries the music's weight.

The next track, out this September, will feature a collaboration between Juan Son, a Mexican experimental alt-rock artist, and Piña. "I remember being eleven years old in Mexico City and going to his concerts with my dad," Piña says.

Piña sent him a message on Instagram to propose a collaboration and quickly received a response from Juan Son, who agreed to contribute. "Now being on set with him to make a music video, that was surreal. The entire process of this collaboration made me feel so connected to my father. It was addicting." The album will feature collaborations with other artists like Shilpa Ray and a remix from Henri Bergmann.

"When I was brainstorming ideas for collaboration, I didn't really think about vocals," Piña explains. "It was a very instrumental and melodic process. When I had a draft of the album, I thought it would be cool to get some vocals and have words to describe the feelings."

Piña discovered electronic music through the avant-garde artist Nicolas Jaar during his teenage years at a French boarding school. He later pursued sound engineering at college in New York and relocated to Miami during the pandemic.

While still in New York, he honed his music production skills, and his melodic trappings landed on labels like Rüfüs Du Sol, Rose Avenue, and the renowned German label, Kompakt.

Once in Miami, he began performing at Do Not Sit on the Furniture. Since then, he has taken the decks at festivals like Coachella, and clubs from London's renowned Fabric to Club Space.

In the fall, Piña will bring the album on an international tour. In one way, it will be the ordinary melodic techno set for the crowd, but, of course, it will come with a reminder that his father will be at every show.

"I worked with these Mexican light designers, and the show will have special lights at every stop. The concept is to have a very powerful light beam behind me that represents the feeling of being so close to the light, it's the way I see my connection to my dad. It's a very bright light."