Sweet Sol Music

When I posted on 22nd September that Cleo Sol had released her third album the week before, little did I realise that a week later - and in true SAULT style - a fourth album would follow.

 

So, for the last month, I have been soaking up albums #3 (Heaven) and #4 (Gold), a total of 19 new songs that combined would fit comfortably on a CD but are two thematically if not sonically different propositions.

 

Heaven unsurprisingly draws deep from the well of Cleo's faith and love, for one's self, family and friends and calling out those that have and would do harm. It's a source that she has returned to frequently. If at times the aspiration for a universally resonating message can mean that the words at times distanced from the narrator, Cleo imbues every syllable with a deceptively easy grace and passion that draws you in and brings you along.

 

I'd previously described Heaven as a lighter offering in the sense that it's nine songs are done and dusted in half an hour but lyrically there are sharper, more painful moments. Old Friends is a reflection on a lost relationship,

 

You had my trust and we had choices

But you told my secrets to strangers

(And I hate the fact that we’re over)

 

Miss Romantic is anything but, focusing on the aftermath of a friend's toxic relationship,

 

Now it's all gone left, he said, she said
You knew there were issues before you got there
But he's older, you just don't understand
He should be responsible for an older man

 

Album closer Love Will Lead You There inevitably ends on an optimistic note,

 

So many times, I've gone wrong
But your love, it stayed consistently strong
Never doubted, our faith kept me holding on
Blessings I don't talk about, it's between me and God

 

Gold picks up the pace with a bass-and-piano driven groove birthed in the 1970s that runs throughout the album, bar the occasional stripped back piano ballad. Reviews so far have frequently name dropped the likes of Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu but perhaps inevitably I'm reminded more of Lovers' Rock artists like Sylvia Tella and (especially) Carroll Thompson. 

 

God is present in the narrative phrasing throughout though it never feels overbearing or preachy. Lost Angel acknowledges, Our Gods may be different / But they see us all the same, but there's plenty to draw from and resonate with in the songs for those that find their way through life without the need for belief in an omniscient being (or beings). 

 

The album ends with the title track, a positive, empowering message - to herself? her partner Inflo? a friend? 

Focus on your dreams and go
I know it's hard for you to trust
Fear will slow you down and not help you grow
But what do I know?

 

Does it really matter? The music itself has a healing, soothing effect, Inflo's sympathetic arrangements and production giving Cleo's - okay, I'll say it - angelic voice flight up into the heavens and wrapping the whole aural experience around you like a longed-for hug.

 

'Cause we gon' keep on smilin'
'Cause it's hard, but we'll work it out

 

I am painfully aware that my previous Cleo Sol posts have elicited zero comments so this may well go the same way. As someone who hasn't had a great deal of interest in contemporary R&B and soul music and is bemused by the latest appellation neo-soul, Cleo Sol is an exception and an exceptional talent. These two albums may not change your life but they may change your mind.

 

Both Heaven and Gold are available on vinyl, CD and digital formats and today is Bandcamp Friday which means that the artists will receive 100% of any purchases there. 

 

In my previous post, I promised a new Dubhed selection. That's been temporarily paused in light of the double whammy of new albums but, as promised, you can find resurrected links to my previous Cleo Sol/SAULT selection from March 2022 right here.

Not In The Business For Pretendin'

It's been far too long since I last featured Little Simz here. Her single Gorilla has been out for a couple of months; her album No Thank You was released digitally last December and physically in June this year. 

 

I'm now in the second half of September and starting to reflect on contenders for an end of year favourites list with the cold realisation that I've bought and listened to so much and there's still so much more great music out there, undiscovered and unheard. 

 

I loved Little Simz' previous album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert ("So what?" I hear you say, "so did everyone") and I've really no excuse for not yet buying No Thank You. All of the elements are there: razor sharp lyrics and delivery; superb production (again) from Inflo and another visually arresting video, directed by Dave Myers but with Simz' character all over it.

Time for me to catch up.

A SAULT On The Senses

SAULT have only gone and done it again. This message appeared on their official website yesterday (1st November):

 

Here are 5 albums released as an offering to God.

Available for free download for 5 days.

The password to unlock all 5 albums is in the message.

Love SAULT x

Just process that for a minute. Five albums. Fifty six songs. Over three and a half hours of new music. For free.

 

What is even more incredible is that this is SAULT's eleventh album since 2019. Eleventh! 

 

Before yesterday, SAULT had already released one album (AIR) and one EP (Angel) in 2022, which I wrote about last month. My mind is boggling at the statistics, let alone the quality of the music.

When I posted about SAULT for the first time last year, I described the challenge of curating a SAULT selection:

Each album is a compelling listen and trying to compile a selection for this blog is both seemingly impossible and deceptively simple. 

In the end, I copped out by creating an acrostic, tracks from each of the five albums spelling out the collective's name. 

Even so, I think it hangs together really well and will hopefully encourage you to search out more.

I started this post at 5.00am today (2nd) so no, I haven't listened to a single album in full or even begun to scratch the surface of this treasure trove yet. I've picked a random sample of 10 songs, two from each album, to provide a 40-minute selection. As before, but honestly more by luck than design, I think the selection works well as a complete listening experience, an Imaginary Compilation Album*, if you will. 

 

Given my moan about download links yesterday, until I decide on a permanent replacement you can (hopefully) access today's selection either via Box or Mega.

In the meantime, the countdown clock's ticking to November 5th; when they're gone, they're gone. SAULT's message is godislove.

1) Gods Will (AIIR)

2) Fear No One (11)

3) The Plan (Today & Tomorrow)

4) Soul Inside My Beautiful Imagination (Earth)

5) Colour Blind (UNTITLED (God))

6) The Jungle (Today & Tomorrow)

7) Fields (Earth)

8) Glory (11)

9) Luminous (UNTITLED (God))

10) 5am (AIIR)

 

A SAULT On The Senses (41:29) (Box) (Mega)

 

* copyright The Vinyl Villain

SAULT Of The Earth

After a few days of teasing the above image and near-frenzied speculation about another new album, SAULT released a new single Angel yesterday. 

 

The use of matchsticks and Roman numerals has been a SAULT staple: previous albums have included 5, 7 and 'NINE'; the latter was also dropped without warning in 2021, available as a free/name your price download for 99 days only. 

There's nothing to suggest that a full SAULT album named after the number 10 isn't on the way. However, Angel was released on the 10th day of the 10th month with a running time of 10 minutes and 10 seconds, so maybe that's the only significance of the X imagery.

 

From the outset, SAULT has sought to confound and intrigue it's audience, releasing two albums per year in 2019 and 2020 respectively, followed by the aforementioned surprise limited-released fifth album last year and another unexpected album drop in April this year, with Air.

Air was a sharp left-turn from what had gone before, swapping beats and vocals from Cleo Sol, Kid Sister, Little Simz and Michael Kiwanuka for a symphonic soundtrack with soaring choirs.

 

Angel is a similar turn in the road, in effect a song in four parts that harks back to the familiar SAULT sound whilst changing it up with a compelling structure and the introduction of new collaborators (to this collective, at least).

Jamaican artist Chronixx launches into the opening segment with an all-too familiar story of a brother ("an angel to me") lost to gun crime ("Momma...never see her son grow old"). It plays out like a modern day reggae classic, live drums, heavy bassline and backing singers ("Run to save your life") channeling the I Threes.

 

Three and a quarter minutes in, Angel switches to a piano refrain which immediately calls to mind previous SAULT songs such as Light's In Your Hands, the incredible closing track from 2021's 'NINE'. However, any expectation that Cleo Sol's vocals will drop in are quickly quashed as Chronixx petitions with prayer, asserting that his brother's "soul is ready to...come home...ready to walk that street of Zion".

 

The third part of the song is a spoken word piece, again by Chronixx (with advance apologies for any errors in my transcription):

In awareness of our true nature, 

we get the feeling that oneness is a becoming.  

 

It is the perpetual rising toward our more subtle, eternal self, 

while still being balanced by the forces of our physical earth nature. 

 

In this harmonious experience, it is possible for ones who are otherwise seen as women and men of different religious and cultural spheres, to function as the universal body of the living God. 

 

The contradicting rows of opposition that we play out in the drama of daily earth life is transformed into a mindful inner life work. 

 

The nurturing of our life. 

True self love.  

 

Soul rebel.  

So gentle.  

Go gently.  

And find your way.

As the piano fades away, a gentle acoustic strum comes in, before London-based singer/songwriter Jack Peñate comes in for the final segment, a softly sung, at times indecipherable verse ("People say what they want to say...Just know that you will meet one day") before a choral reprise of the spoken word piece to close the song.

Soul rebel.

So gentle. 

Go gently. 

And find your way.

 

...at which point, it's time to listen to Angel all over again. And again. And again.

 

Oh, and in another wonderful moment of significance or coincidence - you decide - yesterday (10th October) also happened to be Chronixx's 30th birthday.

 

It's brilliant. It's SAULT, what did you expect?

Angel is available on Bandcamp as a name your price download. I've also posted many songs in the past 12 months, including the Summer SAULT mini-selection last September.

 

Summer SAULT

In a time when a 2 minute search online can unearth a wealth of history and background, SAULT are refreshingly low-key and mysterious. A collective believed to centre on producer InFlo aka Dean Josiah Cover, SAULT released their first album in 2019 and less than 2 years later, are up to their fifth. This includes two double albums released in 2020, one of which - UNTITLED (Rise) - was shortlisted for this year's Mercury Music Prize*

 

In Alexis Petridis's review of UNTITLED (Rise) for the Guardian last year, he wrote that the album "hardly yields highlights because the quality never wavers [...] You’d call it the album of the year if its predecessor wasn’t just as good". This can reasonably be applied to each of SAULT's albums. I didn't hear SAULT for the first time until recently, when the album 'NINE' was released and, after sampling a few songs, ended up buying their entire catalogue on Bandcamp. 

 

Each album is a compelling listen and trying to compile a selection for this blog is both seemingly impossible and deceptively simple. In the end, I copped out by creating an acrostic, tracks from each of the five albums spelling out the collective's name. Even so, I think it hangs together really well and will hopefully encourage you to search out more.

'NINE' is available as a free download for a limited time on SAULT's website, but I'd actually encourage you to head over to SAULT's Bandcamp page, where it's available as a Name Your Price digital album, and pay for it. All of the albums are also available on vinyl. In typical fashion, the official website has little info beyond a countdown of the number of days remaining for the 'NINE' download. Does this mean that for the third consecutive year a second album will be dropped imminently? I hope so**

In the meantime, there's plenty more InFlo-produced music to enjoy: he's been involved in albums by Michael Kiwanuka and Little Simz. I've just received a copy of the latter's new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. I'm only one listen in at the time of posting and, to paraphrase Alexis Petridis, I’d call it the album of the year if the SAULT album wasn’t just as good.

 

1) Stop Dem (from UNTITLED (Black Is)) (2020)

2) Alcohol (from 'NINE') (2021)

3) Up All Night (from 5) (2019)

4) Little Boy (from UNTITLED (Rise)) (2020)

5) Tip Toe (from 7) (2019)

 

Summer SAULT (19:01)
 

* Note (1): ...which SAULT sadly didn't win, although Arlo Parks is pretty great too. It was Dean Josiah Cover's second consecutive nomination; Michael Kiwanuka won the prize in 2020 for Kiwanuka, co-produced by InFlo. Arguably, he may be up for a third year running in 2022, with 'NINE' and/or Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.

 

** Note (2): of course, if I'd bothered to do the 2 minute Google search that I mentioned at the start of my post, I would have realised that the countdown clock on the SAULT website is because 'NINE' is only available to download for 99 days, as reported in the NME back in June. If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend getting on to it as you've got until 2nd October.