Anticipation crackles for tonight’s debut live performance from Sault, the purposefully enigmatic collective centred around producer Dean Josiah Cover, AKA Inflo. Their discography – 11 albums in four years, five arriving in a single data dump a year ago – encompasses the kaleidoscope of Black music history, growing ever more spiritual and exploratory. Exactly which incarnation of Sault will materialise tonight: the sinewy garage-funk unit? The street soul artisans? The composers of diaphanous choral symphonies?
The answer is: all of them, as confirmed by numerous stages of varying size and purpose around Drumsheds’ main hall, which is accessed only after walking through an open fridge that leads into a winding installation composed of grimy tunnels and mirrored gardens. Any disorientation is intentional – Sault intend you take them on their terms, opening the set with an electrifying tribal drum solo that lasts over 20 minutes.
