Säh – 06/06 EP
Incredible instrumental post-hardcore with a strong emotive quality.
Quite often people ask me why I listen to hardcore or post-hardcore. Those who are questioning me say that there is no point in listening to music if there are no discernable lyrics. I’ve been told that hardcore isn’t even music because you can’t understand the lyrics. I often try to point to the fact that a song consists of far more than lyrics and that lyrics are often distracting from the art that is coming out of the amps and drum sets on stage. Säh’s 06/06 EP is proof of my theory: a five-track EP that lasts over an hour with almost no lyrics. Yes, Säh is the proof that lyrics in no way make a song.
Trying to describe Säh is somewhat akin to Lewis and Clark trying to describe the Rocky Mountains (this metaphor has nothing to do with the fact that I’m currently flying over the Rocky Mountains, or that the first time I listened to this album I was driving through the Rocky Mountains). The 06-06 EP is subtle, yet impossible to ignore. It’s gentle and brutal all at once and its recipe seems obvious only after you have listened to the EP.
The recipe? Three young men from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, two drum sets, two guitars and a desire to create music, not a record deal has produced an epic in a time when music has become a series of short stories. The music focuses on creating moods as it flows through mellow and heavy riffs. Säh never quite creates a steady melody, yet their sound never succumbs to the chaos that could be created by such a mixture. These guys sound like they want to be The Felix Culpa minus vocals – the wonderful thing is they are succeeding.
It is incredibly hard to justly describe an instrumental album that is as emotional as the 06-06 EP. The listener does not feel the same after listening to the EP and each experience is a different one. The EP is completely jarring and relaxing at the same time. While these guys will never be radio-friendly it will always be something you can put on to space out to.
Scott Landis
scott@independentclauses.com