The Saxophones are a band from Oakland, California,comprising of Alexi Erenkov (vocals, guitar, saxophone, flute), Alison A. (vocals, percussion) and Richard Laws (bass guitar, vibraphone, synthesizer), whose new EP, If You’re On the Water, “pays tribute to the currents of beauty, sorrow and regret that run through our lives.”
The band say the title track is “inspired by a summer week that saw suicide, the transition of a relationship, and Alexi and his father’s nearly fatal boating accident”. Like the rest of the EP, the song has an almost ethereal feel, like the ghost of an old love song creeping through an ancient transistor radio.
“When you climbed that tree,
they should’ve never left you alone.
I wished I heard you shout.
I would’ve rushed down at the slightest sound”
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‘New Tradition’ is another slow dream pop song, like a sad croon in a sparsely filled dance hall, Erenkov’s sax snaking around and conjuring an almost Lynchian, noirishly romantic vibe. Finale ‘Best Boy’ closes the EP in similar fashion, slinking along in shadowy elegance. The Saxophones make music that sounds somehow from another age, in possession of that grand melancholy found in old-timey pop songs, sounding simultaneously sad and beautiful and achingly human.
“There’s a pain in my teeth
there’s a pain in my feet
there’s a feeling of dread I can’t reach but it feels good.
I’m still young.
I swear I know how to have fun”
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You can get If You’re On the Water now as a free download, or on limited edition 8″ lathe-cut picture disc from The Saxophones Bandcamp page.
A word of advice… The band say “These records are very low fidelity. Many of the sounds are distorted and unbalanced. They do not have the fidelity of traditionally pressed vinyl records. That being said, they sound wonderful (quite otherworldly) and they look great!”
