After their incredible first EP, it was a hard move to pull of another release of the same standard, Saltwater Sun haven’t done this, instead they’ve produced something far better, in the form of ‘Flawed’.
Opening on the familiar notes of this year’s single, ‘Now or Never’, ‘Flawed’ draws in your attention fast with its powerful opening tune. ‘Now or Never’ flows effortlessly through massive choruses and that wonderful bridge before exploding into a outro that could take out a tank. The vocals are particularly notable in their sheer force and the beautiful lyrics that they carry with them.
‘Love Defeating’ is the first taste of brand new music, and it’s an exciting one. Completely different from anything we’ve heard from the band before, there are references to 70’s funk, with the guitar’s in the verses, and the chorus feels like it could happily fit into an R&B song. That’s not to say this makes it feel like a jumble of ideas though, it all fits together seamlessly, and also featuring perhaps the first fade out outro I’ve heard in a long time.
The third song on the album, ‘Nova’, a woozy instrumental piece that samples vocals, guitars and other sounds and forming them into an almost shoegazy intro to the final song of ‘Flawed’, the how-do-I-pronounce-this, ‘Urwur’. This is where the EP peaks; it truly feels like each song takes you on a story, it flows from song to song to its conclusion, one that blows you away. ‘Urwur’ is a showcase of the amount of talent in the songwriting of Saltwater Sun.
The light verses carry you through the song until the chorus knocks you back down, with a guitar riff and melody that will be stuck in your head for days. The song finishes with the words ‘You are what you are’ being repeated before falling back into the light instrumentation to close the song. It is easily the best tune Saltwater Sun have recorded to date, and you can imagine it being a fitting end to their impeccable live shows.
‘Flawed’ sets apart Saltwater Sun from their peers, simply by the sheer maturity of their songwriting at such an early stage of their career. Listen to the EP, see them at a gig, and watch them grow.
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