Introducing: Saa

19 Feb 2013 — Henning Lahmann

Of all those things that the British just know how to do so much better than anyone else, in terms of music their knack for immensely compelling female vocalist/cutting edge producer combination has always struck me as particularly remarkable, especially the seemingly effortless ability to turn such a collaboration into a perfect pop song without in any way making compromises on the forward-thinking production end. Examples for this claim are countless; of recent date, surely AlunaGeorge come to mind, but also Vessel's more pop-leaning (and lesser known) stuff together with his friend Lily Fannon. Today, add to that impressive list Saa, a duo recently formed by Old Apparatus member A. Levitas and singer Linn Carin Dirdal. To call their first three tracks 'promising' would be an understatement - everything sounds well-considered and strikingly confident. Dirdal's vocal delivery is gorgeous, and behind the knobs and screens, Levitas reminds us why we considered "Schwee" one of the best tracks of 2012, a track from Old Apparatus' Alfur EP, which was credited to him. Just as with his elusive collective, the production's overall tone is dark and melancholic, with wide-ranging influences from post-rock to trip-hop, R&B, and contemporary UK bass, with highly convincing results. Take a first listen below, I am pretty sure we'll be hearing a lot more from these two soon.