The SHIYR Poets
The SHIYR Poets are a collective dedicated to setting the entire Book of Psalms to music with honesty and depth. Blending ancient scripture with contemporary artistry, their work embodies both lament and praise, inviting listeners on a full emotional journey of faith.
The SHIYR Poets (pronounced “Sheer”), are a Canadian folk-rock collective formed by Brian Doerksen along with long-time friends and collaborators Brian Thiessen, Calum Rees, and Teresa Trask. Emerging out of a season of personal struggle for Doerksen between 2010 and 2012, the group turned to the ancient Psalms as both a source of comfort and a creative wellspring. Their vision was to render each psalm in its entirety, without editing out the raw cries of lament, anger, and desperation, while also giving voice to praise, justice, and trust in God.
Over the course of their work, the group released recordings under the banner Songs for the Journey, presenting new settings of the Psalms that were both ancient and modern, raw and meditative. Along the way they even experimented with fragments of ancient songs found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, further blurring the lines between history and creativity. Though no longer active, The SHIYR Poets remain a unique expression of faith and artistry, remembered for giving new life to the world’s oldest songbook and for leading listeners through the terrain of human longing and divine encounter.
Musically, The SHIYR Poets blend meditative folk-rock with poetic lyricism. They draw on modern translations and Hebrew scholarship so that their English lyrics capture the original’s poetic artistry: as one profile notes, the goal is to treat the psalms as “sung English poetry”. In practice, the band does not shy away from the psalms’ difficult content: they perform each psalm fully, even its anguished lines, “singing in solidarity with all who suffer”. The result is music that feels raw, unconventional and deeply honest. Reviews describe the songs as “beautifully honest and meditative” folk-rock, reflecting the Psalms’ journey from grief to hope.
