Released: Juneteenth 2020
Untitled (Black Is) opens with a gospel chant of revolution that rises to a fever pitch similar to how calls for racial justice rose to a fever pitch in the days leading up to its release on Juneteenth 2020. Then it does something interesting. The chant fades away to gentle chords and warm ambience and a reassuring voice describing what black is: safety, benevolence, a lifeboat after an SOS, so warm and so pure.
Sault recognize an important truth: love and revolution are not mutually exclusive. Its optimism is not rooted in a Pollyanna view, but in a willingness to do the hard work in a broken world. “It’s a hard life, we were born to lead,” but “things are gonna change,” as Sault tells us in “Hard Life.” And they take it even further: “Everything is gonna be alright because God is, God is on your side.” It reminds me of Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.” And the connection makes sense as both offer hope in hard work to a nation and world in pieces. There is no abdication of the challenge, leaving it for God, but a willingness to accept the challenge with hope and faith.
The Sault revolution has a calmness to it that is as mysterious as the group itself. “We win without trying. / We win while we’re dying” in “X” is musically soothing without contradicting itself. Untitled (Black Is) as a whole is such an organic work that it has the patience to develop. It is insistent pressure rather than a flashpoint, a march rather than a mob.
Musically, Untitled (Black Is) is essential for anyone who likes hip-hop, soul, R&B, gospel and world even if the album never fits fully into any of those genres. It is eccentric and accessible, so really anyone with at least mildly eclectic taste can appreciate the album. But culturally, with its bare truth and unabashed optimism, the album is for everyone. It is a place where all sides can come together, where today’s sadness does not preclude tomorrow’s joy. For Black America, it offers safety in themselves and for White America perhaps safety from ourselves. It is a bridge to goodness. Of course, Sault is a British collective, so clearly that message can be read across national borders.
I could listen to the bass line in “Hard” all day long. So simple–one note!–but so powerful.
I missed this album, and Sault altogether, until you wrote about it. I’m so glad it found its way to me. The music is so much broader than what you describe: it takes me from classic gospel to Soul II Soul and Massive Attack to Fela to Jezzreel and even to Gorillaz, and to a bunch of other places in between. That’s a helluva journey for one album, and it essentially means they’ve found something completely unique.
Not every track strikes me as great, and one or two could have been omitted, but those flaws almost deepen what is close to a perfect album.
Amazing cover too.