SAATSUMA – Floating
A three piece on record and a five piece live is my favourite band format with the obvious exception of Bon Iver’s ‘one man on record to small European nation on stage.’ So Saatsuma have started well before their first note hits Ableton, and better still when you listen to their debut single ‘Storm’, a dark little winner that dropped at the start of this year. Crisp vocals and moody guitar tones overlay a driving synthetic drum beat. However we’re here to listen to ‘Floating’, the newly minted second single from the three-piece. The song’s underlying concepts centre are nocturnal, centering around wakefulness, dreaming and insomnia but I’d suggest that there’s some sense of mortal subtext. ‘Night keeps growing darker’, ‘maybe I can finally let go’, ‘floating out to sea’, these are all rather doomed phrases that bid me think that sleep is being used his as a binary, in its literal sense but also as a metaphor for death. As Memphis Kelly’s vocals float over those gentle rythms, backing vocals flit in and out, a clever mixing decision that keeps you attentively following the lyrics as the dynamics shift constantly. There’re a few chances to see this bunch live, the first of which is tonight supporting Thelma Plum at the Northcote. Unfortunately, it’s sold out because #ThelmaIsLife but I believe there’s a single and video launch on July 09.
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