Raucous and rowdy local rock ‘n’ roller SATE, formerly known as Saidah Baba Talibah, has had this debut full-length on the way for quite a while now. Three separately released digital EPs were the result of a successful PledgeMusic campaign, in which SATE turned to fans to vote for their favourite tunes to build RedBlack&Blue’s track list. It’s always a risk to put decisions in the hands of fans, but SATE’s dedication to hers, and her fan base’s to her, pays off on this collection of swaggering blues rock.
Her calling card is opening track Warrior, and for good reason: it’s hot as a muscle car roaring fast down a desert highway, with a roller-coaster hook and rock ‘n’ soul breakdown. It’s also a perfect opening statement: “You’re gonna know my name / from the Mississippi to the Rhine.” But follow-up What Did I Do packs less of a punch, due to a slow start and some overwrought vocal runs. Similarly, Live On Your Love gets a bit too cheesy with lines like “I would suck on the bone / leave no piece of you alone.”
When SATE ditches the rock clichés, the tunes are nuanced and sharp. Mama Talk To Me is surprisingly poignant beneath its bar-rock stomp (SATE’s mother, singer Salome Bey, retired from performing in 2011 because of dementia). Piano-driven The Answer gives her big pipes room to breathe, and closer Peace similarly highlights her powerful vocals over organ, buzzing synth and a choir.
Silence, meanwhile, is a perfect storm of muscled-up guitar riffs, blazing, infectious choruses and an explosive din of a finale – the kind of song that’ll make people remember the name SATE.
Top track: Silence
SATE plays the Bovine Sex Club as part of NXNE on Thursday (June 16). See listing.
