Video Premiere: Life of Saturdays
For the uninitiated, I'm thrilled to be able to introduce you to Life of Saturdays through this here video premiere. The video you're watching, for the unreleased "That Kind of Love," is special - not only because it's a gem in its own right, but because it's part of the Fort Lowell Records GROW compilation (full name of the record being GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter). The record is officially released on October 30, and features songs from Wilmington/Wilmington-adjacent artists. 100% of sales from the album will be donated to the New Hanover County NAACP, so your purchase will go to an extremely worthwhile cause.
You'll be hearing more from me about GROW in the very near future, but let's get back to Life of Saturdays.
"That Kind of Love" is all sorts of intriguing. The beguiling beat hints at the early 2000s slink of Ladytron, the sort of sound that makes for a glorious good time, underpinned by an acute sense of unflinching resignation. The vocal interplay between John Jeremiah Sullivan and Jessie Williams is both warmly complementary and far out free-wheeling. Sullivan, the band's ringleader, and Williams both have the kind of rambling, offbeat vocal styles made for storytelling, and both imbue Sullivan's lyrics with a poignancy that hits hard.
The more I listen to "That Kind of Love," the more I keep thinking to myself, "Magnetic Fields." Sullivan seems to have a knack for spinning yarns, but there's something sardonic about the lyrical realism mixed in with his vibrant, poetic tendencies. At times diverging from one another, Sullivan and Williams consistently find their own ways to yank the heartstrings, while also doing plenty of damage together. The song's video certainly hits the spot, a collection of grainy moments pulled from vintage movies, with plenty of Hollywood kisses adding dramatic effect to the cinematic feel of the song.
Thanks for this, Megan. It's cool to know LOS will find some new ears. One thing to add: giant credit goes to Nick Laudadio, who was both a co-founder of the band and the producer. He played most of the instruments on this song. A multi-talented person (also an English professor). We appreciate you and Fuzzy Logic! --John Sullivan
ReplyDeleteHi John! It's my pleasure. And yes! Big, BIG shout out to Nick. Nick will get all sorts of love in my next LOS post (which should definitely be sooner rather than later). <3
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