Since 2019, the revered collective Sault have offered a palimpsest of African, American and British black music history, with beautifully realised takes on R&B, jazz and psychedelic funk, doo-wop, trip-hop, symphonic soul, 1980s groove and soundsystem culture. But are these five new albums just proof that producer Inflo can’t be fussed with curation?
Aiir is a sequel to recent modern classical composition Air and is similarly pleasant if sometimes syrupy. Earth boasts Stronger, as good as their 2020 classic Wildfires, and brings polyrhythms and choral contributions. Its astonishing diadem, The Lord’s With Me, burns with the languorous intensity of 1970s experimentalists the Undisputed Truth.
Today & Tomorrow beckons folk and post-punk to join some impressively hard funk. It’s wayward but fascinating, peaking around The Jungle and The Plan. Untitled (God) is a 21-song sequel to the Mercury-nominated Untitled (Rise) and 2020 masterpiece Untitled (Black Is). It’s overlong, with a lot of quacking about the Lord, but with one stunning rap (Free), as well as the excellent, piano-led Never Feel Fear. Exhaustingly, 11 is best for consistent songwriting, but, honestly, anyone can find their own five-star classic among these 56 songs. By the close, it’s clear that these albums are an act of supreme generosity, not indulgent superfluity.
