Steady With The SAULT

It should perhaps come as no surprise that SAULT dropped another surprise new album on Friday (9th).

Titled Chapter 1 - also a characteristic tease of multiple releases in 2026? - it's a brisk, 36-minute, 10-track collection that's every bit as slick and polished as we have come to expect from the...well, no longer so mysterious collective.

And the whiff of familiarity is perhaps both a blessing and a curse on SAULT's 15 (!) album since 2019. For the devoted, Chapter 1 continues to deliver on the promise of previous albums and whilst not with an eye on dominating the airwaves or singles charts, there is something pleasingly reassuring in the overall warm hug of the album.

For the most part, it's business as usual: joining producer Inflo are seasoned SAULT professionals Cleo Sol, Jack Peñate and Melissa Young (formerly known as Kid Sister). Also present and correct is the consummate use of strings, bass and percussion to create a groovy yet heart-tugging soundscape.

On first listen, the lyrics follow a well-ploughed furrow of affirmation and/or devotion, with characteristic repetition of a few - sometimes just a single - line throughout the song. SAULT are canny enough to know how much is enough, so for me at least this never outstays it's welcome and gets boring.

There are no credits on the Bandcamp page accompanying the album, so the only other surprise is reading that US writing and production legends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have been involved in the creation of Chapter 1. I've no idea to what extent and, if I hadn't read about it online, I'd never have guessed their presence from a casual listen. 

Chapter 1 is very much follows the SAULT template and any members of the collective fall in line with the ethos rather than stretch or pull it into different shapes.

With the increasing demystification of SAULT, including some less than favourable reviews of their live performance (only their second ever) at the All Points East festival last year, it's reasonable that even the surprise drop of a new album lacks the impact and shock value of their earlier releases.

Which would be a shame and, for all of that, Chapter 1 is a really good album and, compared to previous releases like Earth, AIR and AIIR, is designed for repeat listening. 

Is Chapter 1 likely to be my favourite SAULT album? No. 

It Chapter 1 what we need right here, right now in 2026? Absolutely.

 

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.