Review: Saintseneca - Dark Arc
[ANTI-, 2014]
Rating: 8/10
By Sarah Weingarten, Contributor
Key Tracks: “Visions,” “Blood Bath,” “Happy Alone”
Saintseneca’s second album Dark Arc is the bomb diggity. It’s a multifaceted album that displays Saintseneca’s strength and versatility. Not only is Dark Arc a fantastic full album, but Saintsenca finally has a clear sense of who it is.
The Columbus-native band infuses Appalachian folk with headstrong indie-pop seamlessly in every track. The only very strange, over-the-head, too-indie songs that don’t make sense are Dark Arc’s two shortest tracks. The tracks don’t have names, just a series of colons.
“:::” is only a minute long. The beginning of “:::” seems like a simple, little cutesy song, but past the 30-second mark a loop of clapping appears. It’s somewhat confusing and very annoying.
“Happy Alone” is secretly a serious song about loneliness. Saintseneca uses happy as a blasé term and doesn’t really mean it. Sort of like when someone is asked, “How are you?” and responds with “Good!” or “Fine!”
The insightful lyrics are masked with a folksy upbeat sound. The lyrics are rather sad and pathetic, but Saintseneca twisted them into a summery tune: “I’m not one to / Be three-fourths sore / When I crave a split lip / I get it quick.”
“Visions” is the pinnacle of Dark Arc. The concept is that before turning 16, the members used to have visions of ghosts and other spirits. Sounds like Zac Little, songwriter and lead vocalist, was on some decent psychedelics. Unless ghosts do exist. Then Little is merely an advanced human being.
“Visions” vaguely sounds like a Grouplove song. Comparing Saintseneca to Grouplove seems so wrong, because *Dark Arc* holds so much originality. Take the comparison with a grain of salt.
There isn’t a chorus in “Visions.” Verses are broken up by heavily strummed guitars and Little singing vowels. It contains trippy verses which keep the song light: “I was always fond of the notion / I was drenched in some spirit ocean / And all my visions merely the symptom of eyes open so wide / That I could peer into the other side.”
Dark Arc solidifies Saintseneca’s presence as a talented, inventive indie folk band. Impressed and satisfied is how listeners should feel after jamming to Dark Arc. Saintseneca is the real deal and this album is proof.
