Saso

Music:

Member Since: 4/12/2006
Band Website: www.saso.co.uk/buy.php
Band Members: Jim Lawler, Ben Rawlins
Influences: creepy crawleys
Sounds Like: BIG GROUP HUG Press Quotes

The Sunday Times Culture Magazine UK (Record of the Week) 3/3
“Outstanding. You could be listening to Talk Talk, or possibly Radiohead’s next album. Imagine a white room that is subtly perfectly lit except you cant see any of the lights. That music you hear playing in the room – that’s Saso.”

Q Magazine UK 4/5
“The music is as beautiful as the aching drift of Talk Talk's last incarnation - less esoteric and jazz-driven - more a blissed out take on Krautrock.”

The Event Guide Dublin IRL (Album of the Issue-twice) 5/5
“There's loads of space to wander around in on BGH. You bump into an incarnation of Radiohead - but it never seems overly derivative. It's a reflection of just how good BGH is. It's one of those albums you know will challenge you for months to come”

The Irish Times IRL (The Ticket) 4/5

The Fly Magazine UK 4/5
“BGH as a title seems to express a sort of collective neurosis that develops into solitary confinement by the ending. It is a pleasure to hear things like this - here's the real thing. This is beauty incarnate - luxuriant and divine.”

Rock Sound Magazine UK 4/5
“A similar status to Mogwai and Sigur Ros should befall the excellent Saso”

Muzik Magazine UK 4/5
“This makes you wonder and question at the same time as it soothes you - Saso sound like a cross between Mogwai and Thomas Newman, and there's just enough irony and just enough love in there to make this something special.”

DJ Magazine UK 3/5
“An emotive mix of gently brooding, at times explosive electronica and delicately poised acoustics.”

Babysue.com Ezine USA 5/6
“The songs are wonderful and unique...the sound quality is superb...and the graphics are absolutely fantastic (the booklet/insert features some incredibly cool images). What more could any listener want? This is worth seeking out. Absolutely WONDERFUL.”

Lostatsea.net Ezine USA
“This is just another great, great record from an interesting origin that I will enjoy listening to whenever the mood - any mood - strikes me.”

Fakejazz.com Ezine USA
“Saso's songs are expressive and varied in intensity, instruments, tempo, and style, but not too much - the songs work together very well as a whole, and the transitions between them are natural and smooth”

Delusions of adequacy.net Ezine USA
“Full of lush, beautiful instrumentation, soft vocals used sparingly, and a thrill for experimentation, Big Group Hug is one of those lush and lovely albums you will want to listen to over and over again.”

Epitomic.com Ezine USA
“Ethereal vocals, like the forlorn keening of wayward angels, creep spine-chillingly into Saso's songs every so often. Cool and beautiful, in an exotic, unfamiliar way.”

I Can Do Nice - Press Quotes

Hot Press Magazine 8/10
"Gentle, spacious and often stunning...Saso really lift themselves above the rabble of atmospheric electronic musos and grab you by the short and curlies...I Can Do Nice is usually intriguing, often captivating and rarely short of interesting"

The Irish Examiner - Weekend Supplement (interview with Saso)
"The album is a lovely specimen, pretty much isolated from the styles and sounds of current trends..maybe Radiohead's 'How to Disappear Completely' or bands like Labradford, could offer some clue as to the level of subtlety that Saso can acheive."

Delusions of Adequacy Ezine USA
“I Can Do Nice is gorgeous, but in its most quiet moments, it's also stark in its melancholy and it's provocative in the way all good music should be. Amazing production, astounding songwriting, and gorgeous instrumentation makes this the best Saso release to date, and it's a new favorite album I plan to listen to again and again”

Babysue.com Ezine USA
”I Can Do Nice is a strange blend of sound and melody...very dreamy, somewhat surreal, and slightly hypnotic. These compositions are beautifully crafted and well executed. Exceptionally beautiful material from start to finish. Highly recommended 5+++”

Leonard’s Lair Ezine UK
“There's a few surprises as the music takes a turn down several dark, ambient alleys descending into total blackness. It's an album of adult concerns dressed as warm, soulful rock where only the dark, disillusioned lyrics could prevent it from being passed through to daytime radio”

Lostatsea.net Ezine
“Although ambient cloud cover and digital debris pelt this endeavor, the roots of Saso remain firmly implanted. Loosely grasped guitar picks barely hurdle over the strings, words occasionally struggle through the natural adhesion of lips and saliva, melodies coalesce for a moment before dissipating into the charged silence. Stately and honestly affecting, Saso is an endearing sight to behold”

Tangents.co.uk Ezine UK
“I Can Do Nice neatly blends electronica with a glacial rock atmosphere, and as such is a deliciously mesmeric sound, suffused with the spirits of Talk Talk and Sigur Ros, and possessed of the kind of gently surrealist patina found on the quieter moments of the sublime Sunset Studies by Augie March. Highly recommended”

Welovemusique.com/ Ezine Canada
“Saso prove only one thing here: that they have a great command of atmosphere, with the potential of becoming the next great thing in mood pop. The production is lush and full while still maintaining a minimal approach to get you to float in hypnotic bliss if you let it.”

Record Label: Melted Snow
Type of Label: Indie