photo by Evelyn Shafer
The exceptional, glorious rock storytelling of "Being Good Is Supposed To Be Easy" by SEE NIGHT, the indie-rock project of L.A.-based singer-songwriter Linda Sao, feels like a massive formidable piece of sonic marble, veined with folk, with gothic rock, post punk, baroque pop, indie rock and 60's girl torture pop. In this way, the song merely by it's cross pollination of genres is a wicked surprise, on top of this blistering, compelling framework is Sao's beautifully endearing vocal personna singing her words.
"But what do you do, what do you say? / Where do you hide at the end of the day? / When nothing makes you more afraid / Than that timeless debt you can't repay..."
From LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[The song was recorded in one day in July 2024 at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, known widely for the Alabama Shakes debut album. It is the first single off the upcoming February 2025 album "Just Another Life" which Pavement/Silver Jews' Bob Nastanovich (who released the See Night "Eloquence" vinyl) calls "glorious." The song was written in response to the sudden death of Sao's father this past year and the subsequent feelings of guilt and unresolved generational trauma she felt as a caretaker and daughter.]
I truly adore what Sao and collaborators bring to the table here. Compositionally, the big broad downbeats and swelling build ups, feeding back guitars and drops out to just Sao and her guitar bloodletting is a stunning thing. Kudos to the propulsive bass lines and free wheeling drumming. In the end, in it's stunning totality, "Being Good Is Supposed To Be Easy", is full of quiet tears and wailing bravado, pummeling sadness and two fisted survivorship.
Credits:
Written by Linda Sao.
Linda Sao: vocals, guitars.
Cory Aboud: drums.
Chris Tench: guitars.
Tres Sasser: bass.
Produced by Tres Sasser and Linda Sao.
Engineered by Jack Tellman at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, TN.
Mixed by Joe Costa.
Mastered by Brian Lucey.
Linda Sao: vocals, guitars.
Cory Aboud: drums.
Chris Tench: guitars.
Tres Sasser: bass.
Produced by Tres Sasser and Linda Sao.
Engineered by Jack Tellman at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, TN.
Mixed by Joe Costa.
Mastered by Brian Lucey.
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[See Night is the indie-rock project of Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Linda Sao, who tours solo and with band—drummer Cory Aboud, guitarist Patrick Andrews, and bassist AJ Marquez—creating cathartic rock and pensive ballads infused with dream pop, shoegaze, and psych elements. Andee Connors (drummer of A Minor Forest) wrote for Aquarius Records that See Night sounds like "...equal parts Pixies/Breeders pop smarts and shoegaze-y Mazzy Star haze...slow building to something much more epic, maybe like a girl pop Godspeed You! Black Emperor...with a lush sonic palette and a propensity for epicry." After two self-released EPs layering haunting vocals with dynamic guitars and swelling drums, Pavement/Silver Jews's Bob Nastanovich released See Night's "Eloquence" vinyl on his Brokers Tip Records.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/seenightmusic
https://www.facebook.com/seenightmusic
February 2025 sees an upcoming album, Just Another Life, which Nastanovich describes as "glorious," and it features drummer Brad Pemberton (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals) and violinist Tania Elizabeth (The Avett Brothers) on several tracks. With six songs written and recorded during pandemic, and two spontaneously added opener tracks written in 2024 after Sao abruptly moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Just Another Life reflects on the many lives one can lead—whether in isolation or on tour—within one lifetime.
With a show that's been described as both hard-driving and dreamy, See Night has opened for Bonnie Prince Billy, Widowspeak, Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit), The Pack a.d., John Vanderslice, Rogue Wave, Lady Lamb, Shana Falana, and more. Sao has DIY-toured the EU/UK solo five times and also performed solo alongside acts ranging from Brooklyn’s explosive psych-jazz ensemble Sunwatchers to Epitaph surf-punkers Ariel View to acoustic troubadour David Dondero.
SEE NIGHT, indie rock, shoegaze, alt rock, gothic, folk, post punk, "Being Good Is Supposed To Be Easy", personal storytelling, upcoming album "Just Another Life", L.A.-based singer-songwriter Linda Sao,
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