The new LP from Saint Solitude, “Sugar Pill,” was released September 30, 2022. On the Bandcamp page for the album, creative force Dup Crosson says: “For the first time, I wrote songs for a mood I needed badly to reconnect with – joy – even when I didn’t always feel that way. It was songwriting for a distant or slightly magical feeling.”
Crosson later adds: “I might still be singing about my usual fodder of confusion, abandonment, and revolution, but hope and awe are the active ingredients (on the new LP.)”
The search for hope and joy comes shining through on the album. The first 3 tracks set an upbeat mood starting with the sublime opener and title track “Sugar Pill.” Seekers are invited into the urgency of the moment.
“Tell me there’s a world where I can unfurl
Tell me there’s a world that I can uncover
And you can believe…”
“Sugar Pill.” https://saintsolitude.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-pill
“Sugar Pill” is one of the best indie pop singles of 2022. The video (above) is also a treat to view as paint slowly drips over flowers. Creating a world of new colors, perhaps as a way of forgetting the old one.
Saint Solitude follows it up with “Grand Ellipses.” The second track pulls harder at the search for meaning. It’s another uptempo tune with nice breaks and vocal isolations. Dup Crosson’s voice is warm but edgy. The journey ahead will go down sweetly but not without confronting despair.
“I need music like I need rivers. I have to visit it frequently or I get really unraveled and anxious. As a listener, it’s kind of like a pet – a friend with “the look of an eager question” on its face most of the time, to quote The Unbearable Lightness of Being. As a player and writer, though, it’s much more complex – the balance is not letting it break my heart more than it lifts me up, and that requires a lot of stewardship.” — Dup Crosson
https://www.musicinsf.com/qa-saint-solitude/
The sonic landscape of “Sugar Pill” finds new terrain in track 3, “Green Magic.” This is getting real. No hiding the hard work ahead. The use of horns at the end is a highlight.
Slow down, the water’s rushing over us
Can you see it now?
Does it light your face?
Cool kids, you’ll miss the early morning call
Can you hear it now? Is it far away?
By track 4 I find myself doing my own searching—about the sound of the LP. It’s lovely, layered, textured, rich, melodic, magical. It’s the stuff of Death Cab For Cutie / The Postal Service. Crosson’s voice haunting much like Ben Gibbard’s. Quality. The instrumentation recalls the scope of The Smashing Pumpkins older records.
“8 Circles” is just 2:28 long but sets up so nicely for the turn in track 5.
The uniquely titled “Robin is the Coke Bottle” puts us firmly on the road to hope. The joy is hiding, but we are fairly sure we are ascending to a plateau that will reveal it. The drum beats here are sensational.
The noisy, anxious “Another Thing To Be Vengeful” again has moments of vocal isolation which Crosson delivers perfectly. It’s a banger with tempo changes and dramatic guitar wails.
Reflective tunes “Winnowing” and “Blind Chess” follow. The latter an anthemic vibe that could certainly stand alone as a single.
By the time we get to “Aim,” (track 9) anything can happen. It does, with a somber horn intro to a short 1:55 tune that turns out to be an upbeat one. The horns return and this time bring joy. Are we close to finding what we are looking for?
Learn to let some go
You won’t miss what you’ll never know
Find your seat in the afterglow
It’s the world as we know it to go
“Aim.” https://saintsolitude.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-pill
Crosson chooses to end “Sugar Pill” with two bangers. “Inconsolia” brings in grunge-infused electric guitar with sweet effect. We’ve got some overlayed vocal harmonies to drive the message home.
“Omni” invites us to wind down, but then decides to take us even higher with some wonderful guitar work that builds in a swirl of baroque pop momentum. A great closer.
“Sugar Pill” is one of my favorite LP’s of 2022. It all works here. Crosson and his fellow creatives should be very happy with their art. See the Bandcamp LP page for a long list of musicians who added to the collection.
Here’s hoping this LP gets some love and listens. It’s beautifully constructed and passionately performed. The songs are well crafted and sound both reverential of modern pop/rock influences and fresh and new in and of themselves.
Even better than directly leading us to some generic definition of hope and joy, Saint Solitude’s “Sugar Pill” inspires us to keep looking for our own. It’s a musical energy drink for the mystical journey.
LINK: https://www.saintsolitude.com/home
UNCLE EARS is a music blog written by David Falk. davidrfalk@gmail.com David was born in 1962 and gravitates towards melodies, adventure, unsigned artists, fresh discoveries. He trusts his ear to know what it likes and loves sharing what he finds. He lives near Seattle, WA, USA.
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