Press

Date: June 01, 2006
From:
Music Whore

Sacha Sacket - Shadowed

Being called the "boy Tori Amos" is not an endorsement in my book.

I haven't yet figured out the generational cut-off date that separates Kate Bush fans from Tori Amos fans, but I'm guessing it's somewhere close to my birthyear, 1972. I am squarely a Kate Bush fan, and I easily dismiss Tori Amos as a cheap knock-off.

So while being compared to Amos gets immediate demerits from my perspective, I can't actually say I've listened to her thoroughly. (Just enough to go running back to Kate.) That ignorance works in Sacha Sacket's favor.

Sacket, like Dylan Rice, appeared on the Adovcate's Top 10 Indie Artists of 2005, and the magazine compared him to Amos.

I didn't let that description interfere with finding his music online, and when I heard excerpts, I thought the comparrison was only partly accurate.

Sacket doesn't sound like Kate Bush, for one thing. (It would be amusing if he could imitate her, though.) The lush piano and strings in his music makes him akin to Amos, but he doesn't get boxed in by it.

In fact, his sound incorporates some really imagintive electronics and more than a good dose of dance beats. As a songwriter, he's probably more daring than Amos.

And then there's the matter of his voice. "Angelic croon" is a description that comes to mind. He can hit those high notes all right, but in the lower registers, his voice possesses a haunting weariness. It's one of those few voices that really transport you to the environs of the music.

"Sweet Suicide", "At a Time" and "Paris and September" would probably appeal to the fans of confessional piano balladry, but when Sacket goes beyond those parameters, he really shines.

"Desire" is what Robert Miles could have sounded like if Miles actually had talent. The stuttering vocals of "Cockatoo" are disturbing in a good way. Sacket could have made "Palestine" way more freaked out if only he ran across ACO's irony.

I probably would have liked to hear more guitars on "Kite High!"

Like Rice, Sacket makes music I would normally dismiss enjoyable. Between his angelic voice and his atmospheric music, he makes Shadowed sound incredibly beautiful.

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