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Untitled (God)
The longest of the five is a glorious combination of the film soundtrack and Brazilian percussion and nasty Seventies rock, with an emphasis on the vocal groupings. At some level, this is gospel, as God is the topic, though it’s not mostly gospel in stylistic approach. Twenty-one tracks, from bootleg Prince to rewired Godspell, all kind of rough and raw and real. SAULT is not a project about being big even when it’s big.
(Yet) another outstanding original album from Sault, their fifth of 2022, Untitled (God) gives you twenty-one tracks of 21st-century devotional soul, R’n’B and funk. Sometimes acoustic and stripped back, sometimes orchestrated and opulent, Untitled (God) includes some of Sault’s most melodic moments. Effortlessly including music that feels directly connected to gospel — “Safe Within Your Hands, Spirit High” — next to Brazilian influenced beauties like “Colour Blind” and “My Light,” and simple, unadorned pure soul — “Never Feel Fear” — or euphoric R’n’B with “God in Disguise,” it still sounds cohesive, mainly due to the distinctive Sault/Inflo production aesthetic. To release five albums in a single year, and to make one a sprawling celebration of God, via inspiring and intrepid re-workings of a multitude of Afro-Caribbean musical forms is a bold move, but one that Sault pulled off with aplomb.