It’s hard to pigeonhole what kind of rock music Sarah & Wild Versatile are playing on their new disc Fall Into Grace. It’s tones are unusual from what rock bands play and their song structures are also unique. Vocalist Sarah Seminski approaches the vocal melody line with her personal quirks and techniques, further insuring that is nothing usual about this band’s signature sound. Guitarist Eric Reardon also leaves his own musical fingerprints of ingenuity all over this album, taking this whole affair to a higher level.
Opening cut “Should’ve Known” is a thick mesh of guitars and keyboards with Seminski moving from gentle coos to throaty roars. Instead of following the usual song patterns, this seem like it was put together from scratch. No recipe. They just make it taste good by adding a little of this and a little of that.
Title track “Fall Into Grace” comes the closest to anything we’ve heard before. It’s a slow boil, bluesy ballad, one that builds into an eventual explosion of exciting sounds and roaring, uplifting vocals. Seminski is feeling it here and she makes her listener feel it too. Her lofty, soulful croon carries a lot in its wake and the tastefully self-restrained backing musicians behind her follow her with an equal amount of verve.
“Sherman’s March” finds the band back in unfamiliar territory. A beat that sounds almost like marching band thumps supports nudges of edgy guitar and keyboards, many melodic twists loaded into the baker’s mix of sound. Seminski sings with an otherworldly presence, her voice coating the proceedings of eerie keyboard notes and guitar touches. This song is so well put together it’s not funny.
Gentle, breezy, bright, funky, and quirky, “Sunday Morning” floats by like a cloud on its own particular air currents. A tuft of horns emerge with a sweet melody that plays underneath the main melody and the double horn approach with Seminski’s voice gliding over is irresistible.
“Let You Go” is another slow boiler, with Seminski’s vocal prowess, again, of full display, climbing ever higher, moving over a juicy combo of horns, keys, and a soulful gospel like choir cooing behind her. This one combines 1960s soul with 1970s funk with a dose of classic rock for added oomph, and it all comes together like sweet architecture.
With a particularly unusual thrust to their sound, the band rocks out again on “Kristine,” a tight, compact number that manages to have a lot of fine instrumentation packed into a small structure. A guitar phrase jumps out of the stereo speakers with a blistering tone and a pattern of intervals all its own before returning the spotlight to a bunch of fine players who put out a fine sound without overwhelming each other or the listener.
“Pleather Jacket Mambo” funks its way forward with a mesh of guitar riffs, horn swells, and a rhythm full of pluck. Seminski does her best at this tempo and with this kind of groove, her voice swaying sassily over the measures of movement. She erupts like a horn with her sudden reentries back into the song, and boy, can she finesse a vocal line, cool, sultry, emotive, her voice riding out the verse with exciting sustains. The instrumentalists step it up and make this funk fest rock with true power.
“Hands To The Sky” finds Seminski hop scotching through a mild groove pattern with funky aplomb. She applies a soulful tone well here, her voice gliding silkily over nuanced touches from the instrumentalists. This song will indeed make this band’s listeners want to throw their hands in the air with celebratory joy for the quirky, bubbly joy they are hearing.
SATWV get mellower and crazier on “Dear Lee,” a weepy letter song to a lost love, pleading with the past partner for a return of affections. This one descends into a personal hell of plaintive vocal wailing and a modern psychedelic soundscape that makes one imagine the misery of the desperately lonely soul. All the instrumentalists are particularly effective here, conjuring the sort of dreaded aloneness that comes when something is over.
The band close out this album with “There Must Be A Rainbow Somewhere,” a quiet, gentle piece that allows Seminski to showcase more of the beauty of her voice. She sings with clarity and prettiness in this pared down tune that has a light accompaniment. Singer and musicians manage to have a strong presence within this easy going tune.
Rounded out by keyboardist Derek Dupuis, drummer Derek Hayden, and bassist Steve Burke, Sarah And The Wild Versatile have come one with one strikingly good debut album. Fall Into Grace rocks, grooves, and shines with its own special sound, insuring that this rising Boston combo will soon be receiving a lot of favorable attention.