5

Drop into the anonymous project Sault’s 2019 debut and you might mistake it for a compilation of ’70s soul/funk obscurities, the kind of tracks that don’t hit a commercial sweet spot but marshal their influences with such style that the particulars get subsumed into the big, intoxicating whole. Like post-punk? “Don’t Waste My Time.” The Chi-Lites vis-à-vis Erykah Badu? “Masterpiece.” Flower-crown funk? “We Are the Sun.” And so on. Vintage as the sound is, the sentiments—“Why Why Why Why Why,” “Foot on Necks”—are unnervingly current, a nod to the reality that while sounds change, state-sanctioned violence has long been ingrained in the American consciousness.

They returned four weeks later with "Don't Waste My Time," suggesting they were buzzed on an eruptive mix of funk-loving post-punk bands such as Rip Rig + Panic and Maximum Joy, '70s Nigerian rock nuggets, and much indignation. Clues were in the songwriting and production metadata of these tracks, crediting Dean Josiah Cover, known as the Ivor Novello Award-winning Inflo, and Melisa Young, aka the BET Awards-nominated Kid Sister. The two songs -- between which Kid Sister returned after a long absence as a headliner with the stirring Cover collaboration "Long Way Back" -- barely indicated the stylistic breadth Sault show on 5. Assisted on occasion by Tom Campbell, Cover is the chief producer and co-writer, joined again by Young and with greater frequency by Cleopatra "Cleo Sol" Nikolic, another dynamic vocalist with Inflo-affiliated solo output. Odds are strong that at least some of the unnamed musicians have been involved with recordings in which the identified have taken part, quite possibly heard on LPs from Michael Kiwanuka, Jungle, Karen O and Danger Mouse, and Little Simz. The psychedelic (echo) chamber soul that has either ornamented or permeated those releases goes farther out here. Combined with the players' almost frenzied urgency, the effect is headier yet.

No one seems to know who they are, but one thing is sure: Sault make hooky, dubby, funky music with echoes of ESG and Can