SAINTES - O.T.G.I.A
Sheffield is a habitable juxtaposition. A student city loved by locals for its homogenisation of of bustling city culture with the serenity of the sprawling Peak District. This contrasted environment has birthed musical legends - Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Def Leppard. But, what of a current Sheffield-based band that encapsulates and represents this Gemini of a city – a band that presents one way, but makes you feel another?
A band that merges rock and roll glamour with palpable vulnerability and raw feeling? One that offers an introspective peak into the soul, past an alluring aesthetic and into the deeper reality of what lies beneath? Enter: SAINTES.
For a debut album, SAINTES’ O.T.G.I.A feels certain of itself, and after one spin of fiery opening track, ‘Save the Doubt’, the listener soon feels certain of it too. It’s a record that fizzes to life and starts strong for the four piece, fronted by Will Kitching, who’s rasping, emotive vocals and eyeliner aesthetic encapsulates the band’s amalgamation of glamour and vulnerability, doesn’t falter.
Rhythmic similarities between the first two tracks are dispelled in track three, ‘The Trap (that keeps you close)’, released as a single in late 2021. Vibrating guitar rips the song into life, with Kitching’s vocals atop, harmonious as they bleed into one another. A common theme throughout the nine-track record, the band have found their niche in an ability to seamlessly blend stellar vocal performance into the depth of their instrumental sound, a quality of production which is impressive for a band so new in formation.
Poignant ‘Queens’ and ‘Uncharted Waters’ are album stand outs; tender lyricism nodding to the turbulence of strained relationships backed by an electrifying guitar style, leaving the listener certain that Saintes are at their musical best when they are lyrically honest, both with themselves and their audience.
An instance of musical virtuoso arises within ‘Don’t Turn Out My Light’, wherein Kitching’s vocals are momentarily isolated as he repeats “I know where it takes ya”. The quiet simplicity of stand-alone vocals bares into a private moment alone, a humanising expose of self amidst a grunge chaos.
As the album thunders along, rock ‘n’ roll delight ‘Fever’ emerges as the most obvious example of a song written for live recital. Its mesh of glam rock rhythm and rasping vocals encapsulate the feel of a SAINTES gig, and thus provides a snapshot of the band at their most self-assured. They are a group that write their music for live performance, to the extent that the listener feels almost short-changed in the notion that, though here the album sounds great, in-person it’d sound even better.
There is little that signifies O.T.G.I.A as a debut album, beside perhaps that palpable excitement of its creators as they crash their way through track by track, breathing a genuine life to each melody as they go. It is skilfully produced, its lyrics are raw and cleverly constructed, and its short run-time allows for each song to be deserving of a spot on the album.
If their first full-scale release is anything to go by, SAINTES are poised to forge a career that is worth listening out for.
Hannah Foster
★★★★★