If you look in the mirror you will see it's just pride

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Best Albums of 2020 list...

#5 : Untitled (Black Is) - Sault

Sault’s new album is weapons-grade R&B: rugged, soulful and unapologetically Black. The group’s music oscillates to all corners of Black culture’s past: from defiant breakbeats and spoken word to high-life guitar lines and mutated gospel. Lyrically, it’s steeped in imagery drawn from the present moment. The standout track, the anthemic Wildfire, is pulled from the headlines – with George Floyd’s death and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests haunting every line. The first thing that hits you is the quality of the songwriting and production; then the message of the song falls like a feather, not a brick.

The second Sault album on the list (the equally untitled (Rise) album was at #25) - unlike the other one, I had heard this one before and I remembered quite liking it, but not being grabbed by it.  And after another couple of listens, I think I'm still not quite there - it's a well put together album which has plenty to say, but I'm not quite getting the messages.  Through headphones, it sounds particularly fantastic but the glory didn't quite stick with me and it feels unlikely to drag me back in.  There is an argument that I may not be quite black enough to appreciate the message - but I don't feel that's an argument I can either confirm or refute.

As before, Wikipedia doesn't have a lot to say about the album other than that the band don't like to talk about things.  "Customers also listened to" Tricky, which I can see for some bits of this album certainly, but as for (Rise), there's a range of styles across the albums which makes it hard to make direct comparisons.  Personally, I preferred (Rise) because a couple of the tracks stood out from the crowd, which didn't happen for me on this album - but there's a lot here to be admired and it's worth checking it out.

#6 - A definite grower
#4 - An odd one