SAULT - Nine ALBUM REVIEW

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This is definitely gonna be a review where the members of this group are definitely gonna see it somehow, but I’m never gonna know.


I wish I had a bio on SAULT. I really wanna know who these people are, but I guess they don’t want us to know. The most we know is that they’re a London neo-soul/R&B group and that this is their fifth album in two years. The two albums they put out in 2020, Untitled (Black Is) and Untitled (Rise), are some of the most celebrated albums of that year. Outside of that, that’s all I really got on them. This new album, Nine, is weirdly available for only 99 days, which is October 2 if y’all don’t wanna do the math. It’s also available for a free download on their website, which will be available past that date. So, what the hell’s going on with this album? Let’s get into it and see.

This album is just as thought-provoking as their Untitled duology, but think of this as an abridged version of it. Those albums are nearly an hour long each, but this is only a little over half an hour. Little Simz has a pretty great feature on “You from London” too if that’s enough incentive for you to listen to it. Michael Ofo has a haunting spoken-word piece on “Mike’s Story” and is one of the most riveting songs I’ve heard this year so far. There’s also a lot of social commentary on here, but unlike the group’s past albums, it kind of feels shallow here. It’s not like they don’t have anything to say, but what’s being said here has already been said not just by other artists and better, but by SAULT themselves and worded better by them. Outside of that, the production here is stunning, as is with all of SAULT’s albums.


SAULT’s latest album isn’t a massive leap forward like their albums have been. It’s mainly just a very minuscule step back. Hell, maybe they didn’t even move. Nine is a very enjoyable neo-soul album in a year where there have been plenty of great neo-soul albums. What makes the others edge past it every so slightly though is that there isn’t a lot of character in this album. It’s still a fun listen and it’s obvious they’re talented, yet I was just hoping for so much more.


7/10


Listen here

YouTube Music




Nine is a Forever Living Originals release.

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