The Search for Saturnalia
This intimate little six-song EP reeks of a basement keg party in the dead of winter where guitars provide all the warmth. In this case, The Search for Saturnalia combines a few six-string cues from Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth with a D.C. punk dynamic to create a promising strain of soul-stirring noise. The multifaceted “You’re Song” starts with a high-pitched chainsaw assault before changing up with a melodic, left-of-the-dial hook that won’t go peacefully, while “Baby Blue” artfully utilizes a hold-and-release technique to slowly build the song to a fiery climax. Nothing gets lost in the local quartet’s song structures; each and every note is congruent with the whole. Perhaps the tortured scream-singing gets a bit one-dimensional after six songs, but that’s a small quibble in the face of The Search for Saturnalia‘s finely layered guitar energy. This is definitely a group that deserves a nod from mavens of the underground sound.
This article appears in December 3 • 1999.
