Monday, December 18, 2023

Ken's Best of 2023 - #2: Sapling - amor fati


I loved Sapling's 2020 album No Sequoia, and I was looking forward to amor fati to be released in May. I wasn't quite expecting to love this album as much as I did. The songs on amor fati are somehow both more pop and more experimental than the previous album. Sapling's sense of humor isn't as apparent this time around, but it's more biting. Plus, it's noise punk masquerading as prog rock? 

amor fati gets better and better with each listen, as you always discover more to like each time. "A Fox Upon the Tomb" and "11:37" are the songs that initially grab you, but others slowly grow on you until they become favorites. "The Little Monkey Who Wasn't Very Good at the Accordion: A Bedtime Story" is a spoken word story by Amber ToiletFire Tortorelli over accordion that was amusing the first time, but is now one of my favorites on the album. "Inaction in Action" might be the best example of a song that is both more pop and more experimental. At first it seems like the poppiest thing Sapling has ever done, but deviates into odd noise experiments... while still being pop. If you haven't spent too much time with it yet, amor fati is definitely worth more of your time.

Songs of note: "A Fox Upon the Tomb," "11:37," "Inaction in Action," "Taboo"

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