The mood is anxious and hectic, with the energy of commuters moving from one subway to another during the morning rush hour. “ London Gangs” is set to a retro bass-and-drum loop that sounds like it’s playing through faulty speakers. Simz projects a sunny disposition amid trying external factors: “I know killers in the streets, but I ain’t really involved/We don't wanna cause any grief/But we get triggered when hearin’ the sound of police.” The somber “ Alcohol” reflects on the battle to conquer destructive vices and fight against the impermanent bliss of chemical comfort, bringing to mind Kendrick Lamar’s bleak “A.D.H.D.”: “Oh alcohol/Look what I’ve done,” Cleo Sol sings mournfully “Oh alcohol/It was only supposed to be one.” “Ain’t no thinkin’ twice when you’re living life the rebel way, huh/We don’t know L.A./You ain’t knowin’ Shoreditch Overground, ’bout to run away,” she spits over a beat that evokes Corinne Bailey Rae summer aesthetics with a take-no-shit mindset. UK rapper Little Simz is luminescent on “ You From London,” sitting in the pocket where bold ambition meets calm disregard for convention. It’s the type of misery that elicits a desperate ha ha ha ha.
Are we laughing at a joke or a person? And “how about” what exactly? That man, that dog, them Yankees? The meaning is as cryptic as the band, but they do offer a hint: “How about the love.” Looking around the globe today, that four-letter word is as urgent as it is furtive, and while SAULT are private, the grief they sing of has been projected onto the world stage, stoking a sadness that could make you want to disappear. “How about/Ha ha ha ha/How about/Ha ha ha ha,” runs the refrain, leaving little inkling of its origin story. It’s that energy of laughing because everything is terrible that beats through the brief opener, “ Haha,” an a cappella chant that resembles a playground rhyme set to syncopated handclaps. It required more physical exertion, and helped me move when I wanted to hide in a crawl space. We laugh when things are funny but recently, particularly over the past year and a half, I began buckling over when things were neither humorous nor joyous. With NINE, they add new layers-of mystery but also flippant humor-to their sound. Where their first albums were rooted in neo-soul and funk, 2020’s Untitled (Black Is) and Untitled (Rise) borrowed liberally from Afrobeat and the blues. The album will be available-whether as a stream, download, or CD/LP-for just 99 days. NINE is SAULT’s third album in just a little over a year, and it builds on the penchant for mystery that they established with their first two albums, 5 and 7, both released in 2019 under a cloak of anonymity.
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