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The Sound Of Music
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I've been avoiding writing this piece. I started this music column to demonstrate that there's new music out there worth listening to, rather than simply retreating to my bedroom with the Led Zepplin box set and waiting for Simon Cowell to get hit by a bus. I don't do this for commercial gain; it's a blog - a bit of harmless fun. It's just my opinion, thrown out there for your amusement and to pander to my ego. Suddenly this isn't good enough. This is serious. I've stumbled across a band so good that I want to shout about them from the rooftops and I want the world to take notice. Frankly, dear reader, I don't think I've got it in me to do them justice, so I've been putting off writing about them. Except I can't get their music out of my head. They're not some bunch of newbies with one good single on an EP and no prospect of a follow up album. These guys have three high quality albums to their name already. Step forward and take a bow, Jim Lawler and Ben Rawlins. They're from Dublin, Ireland. Their name is Saso and you've probably never heard of them. Jim composes and arranges the music and Ben produces. They seem like nice guys - they respond reluctantly to e-mails and don't like to talk about their work, preferring to let the music speak for itself. Like me they're also big fans of the Talk Talk album Spirit of Eden having given it a credit for inspiration on their second album! 
It started innocently enough. In a moment of boredom one day, I went round some of the bands that had accumulated under my MySpace friends list and listened to some of the tracks on their music players. This one track just stuck out - it was called 'Type A Jitters' and I really liked it. I set it as the track which automatically plays when you load my own Myspace profile and went about my business thinking no more about it. Then one day I was idly rifling through the racks at Road Records on my way to Hogan's pub when I came across their new album The Middle Ages and made the connection with the track I had previously heard. A short, distracted thought process and the fact that I had just been to an ATM meant that I casually became the owner of their latest CD. I do this all the time. I'll find something I like the look of for whatever reason - a remembered review in a magazine, interesting cover art, a funny band name - buy the album and eventually get around to listening to it. It may make an impact or not. If not, it gets dutifully filed away in a case and forgotten about. If it does, you'll probably hear about it here. The Middle Ages doesn't make an impact the very first minute you listen to it- there's only one track likely to serve as a single ('Red Scare'), but then again it's not that type of album and Saso are not that type of band. Instead you carry it around in your head, mentally replaying snippets and yearning to hear the whole again. Saso sound like an Irish Radiohead. They both have a heartrendingly beautiful melancholy to their work. The album is best appreciated as a cohesive whole. Like watching the weather change or observing the tide ebb and flow, it takes effort and patience, but leaves you amazed at the beauty you have observed. 
This is not to suggest that Saso are a Thom Yorke tribute band - far from it. It's just that their work has that disconnected other worldly feel that Radiohead have perfected. Saso's sound is broad and deep and assuredly musical. Sometimes (such as the track 'Chasing Monsters') they have the gravelly tone of Martin Grech. Sometimes it sounds yearning and beseeching like Sting's one good album Ten Summoner's Tales. It ends with a beautifully calm instrumental piece which leaves you quite relaxed and at peace with the world - I smiled when I realised it was titled 'Chloroform'. Before long The Middle Ages was on heavy rotation and I was a confirmed fan. In order to avoid wearing out the CD, I purchased their 2001 debut album Big Group Hug. Now most bands that get as far as a second album will have either matured beyond belief from their amateur beginnings or plain simply run out of ideas. In short, it can be a very dodgy proposition buying the earlier albums before the band have mastered their craft. To continue the Radiohead comparisons, there's little except 'Creep' to justify a puchase of their debut effort Pablo Honey. With Saso, there is a very small but distinct difference between 2006's The Middle Ages and 2001's Big Group Hug. It's one of tone. The albums tell different stories, but in the same musically assured manner. Astoundingly, the band apparently sprang fully formed onto recorded medium and their first album is as capable and masterful as their most recent. 'Lazy Bones' is a soft-toned piece with sparse vocals, yet with a hard, dark undercurrent that leaves the listener beguiled yet vaguely uneasy. 'Blood Bath' comes on like a Kid A era instrumental before pausing in the middle for a rant by comedian Michael Richards. 
I was delighted with both purchases and posted a message on the band's MySpace page saying what a happy camper I was. I was much surprised to receive a message back suggesting that I should also give their sophomore album I Can Do Nice a shot. It's their personal favourite but not as immediately accessible as the other two. As you know, Three Rock Mountain loves a challenge and I acquired a copy in short order. I have to agree with their prognosis. It's not as 'poppy' as the other two albums, but is much richer and rewarding. As with their other works, it needs to be taken all of a whole, and yet contains 'Type A Jitters', the closest to a killer single they've ever produced. But it is definitely more experimental. Halfways through the album comes a track called 'Soft Focus' - it has the soft occasional bass notes of a Talk Talk number supporting a low-key sustained keyboard, behind which flutters a noise like steam boiling off. It reminded me of flying across the Atlantic in the middle of the night onetime, resting my head against the fuselage wall in fatigue and hearing the air rushing past in a great stream as I drifted in and out of consciousness. In short this tune took me to another place. Click here to listen to some of their tunes yourself. Saso are a very special band making very special music. I know it's all a matter of personal taste, but this is mine. I think this is the best music I've come across since I started this column. I urge you to give it a try, too. Never seen anything so beautiful in all my life, perfect… I'm in love with this moment… Everything is now possible…death is insignificant…I'm at one with nature…God is within me now - 'We're Sorry' from The Middle Ages |