A broken mad spirit has no warranty

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Albums of 2021

#6 : Nine - Sault



On Sault’s fifth album in two years, spoken-word interludes baldly state the reality of racism in the UK while lyrics tell impressionistic stories that teem with loss and hurt, knives and guns. Yet the music offers transcendence: tightly melodic, luxuriously layered, instantly memorable without being cheaply infectious. London Gangs nods to the Chemical Brothers, grainily retro R&B, X-Ray Spex, hushed nu-folk and Auld Lang Syne. Bitter Streets is soulful 60s lounge music with a tricksy beat. The exquisite title track is pared-back psychedelic soul, proggy folk, cosmic Beatles and also none of those things. If you like the sound of Nine, apologies. Sault only made it available to stream and download for 99 days after its initial June release. Back then, the group said some of them hailed from “the heart of London’s council estates”, where the majority “get trapped in a systematic loop where a lot of resources and options are limited”. The unexplained erasure of Nine feels like a way to defy that lack of agency – proof that if Sault want to tightly control the distribution of their work, that’s their prerogative.


We met Sault twice last year - Untitled (Rise) and Untitled (Black Is) - and I generally liked them, if not necessarily thinking I was picking up the messages they were sending me.  So I'm expecting the same from this - except for the fact that The Guardian tells me very distinctly I won't be able to find it anywhere.  Oh dear - shall I just have a look anyway?  Oh look - it's totally there on Amazon - someone's been telling porkies to them Guardian types.


And it's pretty similar to the efforts from last year - a bit heavier on the beat for the first half than I remember either of the other two being, but overall it's got a curious mix of sounds which hang together pretty well.  And "You From London" uses the same female vocalist that "You Know It Ain't" on Rise used and I like her quirk very much indeed.  As before, I don't think I'm getting the messages they're sending me - but I enjoyed the music anyway, so they'll just have to settle for that.


Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album other than also telling me I definitely won't be able to listen to it and that the critics liked it.  "Customers also listened to" Thuy, MICHELLE and serpentwithfeet - an interesting set of names, who I can, obviously, tell you nothing about.  I quite like Sault though even I can't say it's something I'm likely to stick on - but I was pleased I was able to listen this and if you've been put off by the rumours of its demise, then don't be!


#7 - Some fine quirky indie-rock
#5 - Just not for me, I'm afraid


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