Saccharine Archives - Various Small Flames

Saccharine – “Hollow Space Pt. II” Live at Big Nice Studio

Jon Doyle — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:08:20 +0000

We wrote about Kevin King’s Saccharine project last summer, premiering a single from the Boston-based act’s new album, Hollow Space, out via Disposable America. The record “continue[s] the immersive sincerity of previous releases,” we described, “[serving] as an exploration of hope within dark times, finding meaning and grace in situations where such features might first appear absent.”

Nowhere is this clearer than the two title tracks that bookend the release, restrained and wistful songs that balance a melancholic tone with a quiet sense of wonder. The first sees the humble brightness of the opening stretch and shimmer, culminating in a wide and weighty climax, while ‘Hollow Space Pt. II’ leans toward a more acoustic sensibility, though again takes advantage of King’s earnest vocals and the impact of empty space. The result is a tender intimacy that never strays into mawkish territory, written in the spirit not of finding answers but rather finding some semblance of meaning in the asking of questions.

Today, we’re delighted to share a performance of the latter taken from Saccahrine’s session with Big Nice Studio. The Boston studio is used by a number of the area’s bands records (Horse Jumper of Love, Lilith, Soft Fangs, NOVA ONE, Alexander and community college to name just a few), and they are developing a series of live session within their friendly space. Each video in the series is a continuous shot recorded on a vintage VHS camera, the result edited by studio owner Bradford Krieger and produced by studio engineer Chaimes Parker, giving the perfect blend between lo-fi authenticity and professional polish.

You can find the video, introduced by Dimitri of Horse Jumper of Love, below:

Hollow Space is out now on Disposable America and you can get it from the Saccharine Bandcamp page. You can view more live videos from Big Nice Studios here, and see the first in this particular series, community college playing ‘broken back’ over at Groundsounds.

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August 2018 Roundup

Liam Doyle — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 11:44:46 +0000

Summer has shifted into into final days as darkness arrives a little earlier and the trees threaten to lose their lustre. Which means that September is upon us, be that welcome or dreaded. Either way, here’s a playlist featuring all of the artists we covered during August 2018 to make the transition a little more pleasurable.

Tracklisting:

Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Everyone Out of the Car
Miranda Winters – The Futuristic District
Exam Season – Strawberry Milk
Saccharine – Pumpkin Guts
Tuvaband – Wolfpack
Devon Welsh – Dreams Have Pushed You Around
Mending – Alan after the Fire
Reddening West – Even If
Valley Maker – Light on the Ground
The Washboard Abs – Return to You
Manatree – Brushfire
Miserable Chillers – Horse Opera
Saint Charles – She Don’t Wanna Know
new casino – going for a walk*
Frankie Valet – Why Blue
Goodbye Max – Old Photos
Adeline Hotel – Habits
Joe Kaplow – I Said I Was Going and I Went
Pecas – Tuesdays
Sun Kin – Neglect
Baby Cages – flowers
Crooked Spine – Skinned Knees
Lauren O’Connell – Out of Focus
Mount Goldie – Summer
Harvey Trisdale – Baby
american poetry club – the sum of your parts
Babehoven – Out of the Country
Adam Arcuragi – Low Parade Rain
Jason Bemis Lawrence – Southern Midwest
Campdogzz – Sorceress
Barfoot – A Thin Place Between Worlds

* not on Playmoss

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Song Premiere: Saccharine – Pumpkin Guts

Jon Doyle — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 17:16:46 +0000

Saccharine is the recording project of Boston’s Kevin King. Formerly of the band Maura, King started out solo with We Both Became The Sky, an album released by Disposable America back in 2016 that swapped out the emo overtones of Maura’s sound in favour of a more restrained bedroom pop style. Still, We Both Became the Sky saw Saccharine maintain the emotional immediacy that marked the Maura sound, the quieter, folk-orientated songs only heightening the earnest connection.

Now King has teamed up with Disposable America once more to release the second Saccharine album, Hollow Space. Looking set to continue the immersive sincerity of previous releases, the record serves as an exploration of hope within dark times, finding meaning and grace in situations where such features might first appear absent. “Hollow Space explores the idea of change, both physical and mental,” King explains. “It confronts the idea that in nothing there will always be something.”

While the record isn’t out until the end of September, we’re delighted to share the lead single, ‘Pumpkin Guts’, as something of a taster. The song is perhaps a little louder than those on the previous Saccharine release, the intimacy of King’s vocals complemented by more expansive instrumentation. Or rather, the instrumentation grows more expansive across the length of the track, opening with nothing more than a simple guitar strum before unfurling slowly into something full-bodied and atmospheric, the reverb eventually coming to swallow King’s final words.

Hollow Space is being released via Disposable America both digitally and on cassette on the 28th September and you can pre-order it from Bandcamp. The label also put out the previous Saccharine album, plus a few from Maura, so be sure to delve into them too if you haven’t already.

Photo by Peter Madden, Jr.

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