There are many things I love about Sault, not least their initial anonymity, their eclecticism, and their refusal to play by the marketing-led rules of the music biz.
Then there’s their ever-changing cast of members, and their unstoppable prolificness (prolificacy? prolificity?). They’ve made 11 albums since their 2019 debut, the confusingly titled 5, from which this slinky funk workout is taken.
When it comes to breaking rules, they’re pioneers. In 2021, they followed a Mercury-nominated album, Untitled (Rise), with another one called Nine… then deleted it from every platform (*including streams and downloads) after 99 days.
By a bizarre coincidence it reached No.99 in the album chart – their first appearance there.
A year after that they put out an album of orchestral instrumentals (Air), followed by a single-track “EP” containing a ten-minute reggae song (Angel) and five albums released on the same day… initially as a password-protected free download.
Since then they’ve explored choral and classical music on Air’s sequel Aiir, punk-funk fusion with Today & Tomorrow, religion on Earth and Untitled (God) and back to soul again with their most recent release, 11.
In between, one of Sault’s prime contributors, Inflo, found time to produce most Little Simz’s 2022 album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and some of Adele’s gazillion-selling 30.
Now unmasked (Inflo, vocalists Cleo Sol, Kid Sister and Chronixx, plus musicians Kadeem Clarke and Jack Peñate), they played their first ever live show in November 2023 and are due to tour in the new year.