Mr. Liar Got A Secret Now

Sault “Monsters”

“Monsters” is one of the first songs I’ve heard in 2020 that sounds like it’s offering a new aesthetic direction for the coming decade rather than sounding like something that’s just leftover from the past two years. The combination of sounds in this song are immediately striking – heavy layers of overdriven keyboards contrasted with the sort of crisp, slick groove that’s become Sault producer Inflo’s signature sound, and a vocal that’s so wet with reverb that the song’s straightforward melodic hooks have a ghostly, somewhat uncanny feel. This suits the lyrics very well, rendering spiritual but overtly political BLM-adjacent sentiments with an abrasive edge and a touch of supernatural power. The super-saturated sounds and the clean, dry tones are balanced perfectly in the mix so the opposite textures complement each other rather than clash or lose definition. It takes a lot of skill to make a song feel so raw and blunt, but also sophisticated.

Buy it from Bandcamp.