5

This album has been added to 2 public lists:

• 

  On Vinyl

  Greg

  • Root Genre: Soul / R&B
  • Primary Branch: Neo-Soul / Alternative R&B
  • Secondary Influences: Post-Punk Funk, Boogie, Funk, Dub, Afrobeat
  • Textural Identity: Sparse, dry and groove-led — clipped bass, tight drums, electric piano, fuzzed guitar, synth accents and understated vocals with deliberately roomy production
  • Energy Axis: Medium (mostly locked into hypnotic mid-tempo grooves, with occasional sharper rhythmic or funk-driven peaks)

  5 is best rooted in Soul / R&B, even though it constantly pushes outward. AllMusic classifies it as R&B with Alternative R&B and Retro-Soul styling, while The Guardian describes the album’s language as moving between ESG-like post-punk funk, early-’80s boogie and neo-soul. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“0”}

  What makes early SAULT so distinctive is how little they need to establish a groove. The arrangements are often basically drums + bass + one or two carefully chosen colors. That sparseness leaves huge amounts of space around the rhythm section. There is also a clear dub sensibility in the production and a motorik quality to some of the drumming, with The Guardian specifically drawing a connection to Can’s Jaki Liebezeit. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“1″}

  Compared with the richer gospel, orchestral and Afrobeat directions SAULT would explore later, 5 feels almost skeletal. Tracks such as “Up All Night,” “Why Why Why Why Why,” “Masterpiece” and “We Are the Sun” revolve around compact rhythmic ideas and strong hooks rather than elaborate arrangements. The group’s official release lists 14 tracks and dates the album to May 5, 2019. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“2”}

  Small review: 5 has the wonderful feeling of musicians discovering that taking things away can make a groove hit harder. “Up All Night” immediately establishes the formula: bass and drums dominate, while everything else enters only when necessary. “Masterpiece” stretches that restraint into something warmer and almost hypnotic, while “We Are the Sun” has a lighter, communal soul character. What keeps the album from becoming straightforward retro-soul is its post-punk economy—SAULT frequently treat funk almost like ESG did, reducing it to rhythm, repetition and negative space. The result feels both vintage and strangely modern.

  Collection shorthand: Soul / R&B → Neo-Soul / Alternative R&B.

• 

  Top 100

  Matt Kreiling

  We loved this album as if it had been given to us by god. We wondered what it was, what about it made it such a perfect thing. We created playlists that played the songs in reverse. This album will be coming back again and again.