Three new-ish records this week. The fifth album in little over two years from London’s enigmatic Sault, a debut from Australian R&B artist Genesis Owusu, while Miranda Lambert joins two other country artists for a literal campfire singalong,
Sault
Nine
2021, 7.5/10
Mysterious London collective Sault are back with their fifth album in little over 24 months. It’s always tricky writing about Sault because they’ve kept their their identities shrouded – not playing live or giving interviews. Unusually, Sault provided a statement to accompany Nine:
Some of us are from the heart of London’s council estates where proud parents sought safer environments to raise their families. Community is the only real genuine support & the majority of us get trapped in a systemic loop where a lot of resources & options are limited.
Adults who fail to heal from childhood traumas turn to alcohol & drugs as medicine.
Young girls & boys looking for leadership can get caught up in gang life.
It’s very easy to judge.
What would you do if this were you?
As such, Nine marks a change in focus. While Sault’s 2020 records tied into the Black Lives Matter narrative and felt American in their outlook, this new record is firmly situated in London, as titles like ‘London Gangs’ and ‘Alcohol’ indicate. Musically, it’s closer to Sault’s 2019 albums 5 and 7 with its minimalist, rhythm-heavy sounds.
It does feel a little slight compared to some of their earlier records – it’s a brief 34 minute record with only 8 full songs. Generally the rhythmic songs like ‘London Gangs’ and ‘Trap Life’ are stronger than the Cleo Sol-fronted slices of neo-soul. Cleo Sol does front the gospel-tinged closer ‘Light’s In Your Hands’ – I’m a sucker for those 1970s singer-songwriter piano chords.
Nine is only available for download and streaming for 99 days – you can download it for free from https://www.sault.global/.
Genesis Owusu
Smiling With No Teeth
2021, 7.5/10
Canberra, Australia, is about the last place you’d expect a cutting-edge neo-soul artist to emerge from. It makes more sense when you learn that Owusu immigrated from Ghana at the age of 2. A surprising formative influence for Owusu was the Xbox game Jet Set Radio Future; Owusu played the game, with a pirate radio soundtrack of noise rock, future funk and rave, as a 5-year old.
Owusu has already enjoyed success with singles ‘WUTD’ and ‘Sideways’, but Smiling With No Teeth is his debut record. He went into the studio with a disparate bunch of well-known Australian musicians, like guitarist Kirin J. Callinan who’s prominent on stand-out track ‘Drown’.
Owusu’s a multi-faceted artist, able to jump between abrasive rockers like ‘Black Dogs!’ and smooth soul like ”No Looking Back’. As a result, Smiling With No Teeth can be an exhausting listen, even at 54 minutes long. ‘A Song About Fishing’ is startlingly close to a smooth 1980s Van Morrison track, while his African/Australian voice is unique on songs like ‘Whip Cracker/
Sometimes Smiling With No Teeth is easier to admire than enjoy, but Owusu’s a talented guy and I’m interested to hear what he comes up with next.
Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, and Miranda Lambert
The Marfa Tapes
2021, 8/10
It took me a while to latch onto Miranda Lambert – she’s an excellent songwriter but favours a modern country production sheen. There were hints of a more modest sound on 2016’s acclaimed The Weight of These Wings, but she commits to a simple style on The Marfa Tapes. The Marfa Tapes was recorded around a campfire with two guitars and two microphones, with relaxed dialogue between the songs. Lambert shares the limelight with Jack Ingram and Randall. Both have released records, although Randall in particular is better-known as a songwriter.
It may seem odd that Lambert revisits ‘Tin Man’ from The Weight of These Wings here. But it’s actually the first song that this trio of country artists wrote together, so it makes sense for this project. The Marfa Tapes has a fun and off-the-cuff atmosphere – ‘Am I Right or Amarillo?’ is a particularly goofy song title.
Despite the relaxed atmosphere, the songwriting is often very strong. There are fun singalongs like ‘Homegrown Tomatoes’ and ‘Geraldene’, but also moments of profundity like ‘The Wind’s Just Gonna Blow’. ‘Amazing Grace (West Texas)’ is a perfect closer, warm and spiritual.
I’m expecting Lambert to welcome back the big choruses and overdriven guitars for her next project, but it’s comforting to hear her play an album of warm Texan folk.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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Very cool stuff, thanks! And 5 albums in two years, who are Sault trying to be, GBV? Lol.
I wonder how long they can keep it up – will there be a second album this year like normal? The main guy Inflo has also produced albums for Michael Kiwanuka and Little Simz in the last couple of years.
Prolific people are hard to slow down. Id wager there’ll be more, based on this.
I find Sault impressive. Lately the artists who are churning out albums non-stop are yielding tepid results (Thee Oh Sees, King Gizzard), but Sault’s consistency has been incredible to me. I’m glad they’re starting to get the recognition they need.
They seem to be doing amazingly well out of minimal conventional promotion. I don’t do the vinyl thing, but there’s massive demand for those Sault discs. No interviews, videos, tours, just putting the music out there and letting it speak for itself. I don’t think any of their albums are front-to-back classic but all of them are totally worthwhile. I like Cleo Sol’s solo album from last year too.
I think they might age well, if not for the music then maybe as a snapshot of the political and social climate. I feel like the last five years of art and music are going to be a treasure trove of historical significance for future generations to study and, you know, scratch their heads about endlessly.
The Cleo Sol album flew under my radar completely. Will check that one out too.
Sault are definitely a good time capsule band. And all the pandemic related albums from the last year or so will be interesting in hindsight too. There hasn’t been as much high profile political music around Trump etc than I would have expected.
The The Marfa Tapes is what drew my attention. l love loose performances like this.
Songs are really good too – I like the mix of fun and heartfelt.
Heartfelt is a good word. They make it sound spontaneous and that is not easy to do…unless it is.
I had grabbed the Sault album a few days ago, but I haven’t sat down to listen to it yet. I only became aware of them last year and have a bit of catching up to do.
Really interested in Genesis Owusu. Will be adding that to my list.
It’s not my favourite Sault, but it’s still very good. I only picked up on them last year too (even though they’d only been out for a year, they’d already released one album). The Genesis is inconsistent but there’s some really good stuff.