Even in the least eventful of years, election season is an incredibly stressful time. Billions of dollars flood the airwaves meant to monopolize peoples’ attention and scare the absolute hell out of them. Sometimes it works. Finding a moment of calm in this most hostile of environments is tough. Luckily, I’ve had a secret weapon the past couple of weeks: this self-titled EP from the short-lived project Saffron.
From the delightfully messy folk of “Thrill of Love,” to the simultaneously gentle and crunchy indie of “Star Child,” each of the EP’s four tracks put on display what the band calls its “cosmic American music.” That’s likely because Saffron prided itself on constantly evolving live shows, never playing a song the same twice. That makes these recorded versions just one “of those variations, set in stone,” the band writes on its Bandcamp page. Those roads not taken are evident in the songs themselves, which feel dynamic and lived in and like they just may transform into another version living up in the ether before the next time you press play.
Saffron, “Ellen (All Alone)”: There’s a sublime and delicate serenity to “Ellen (All Alone),” that channels shades of The Velvet Underground’s stunning 1969 track “Jesus.” It’s the kind of tune you play, float away during and then need to play again. Singers Ali Mehraban Ramirez and Galia Shakked’s whispered vocals float above a restrained, circular picking pattern, all of it perpetually at risk of being swallowed by an ocean of 4-track fuzz.
Like what you hear? Check out some of the other releases from Mehraban Ramirez’s homespun record label Matraca Tapes or buy copies from local risograph printer and studio BAB & Friends.
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