MP3 Sacha Sacket - Shadowed
Masterful piano, string section, full band, ambient electronics, rich voice, powerful songs, and a bleeding heart...
12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Acoustic, EASY LISTENING: Soft Rock
Details:
There is an enigmatic darkness and an inherent beauty to Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Sacha Sacket''s second album, Shadowed. His gentle meandering piano is the hypnotic pulse of a melancholy folk-rock and electronic soundscape flowing with baroque-like strings.
"The album is about ''dark things." says Sacket. The reflective artist became fixated by the evils of mankind, especially while visiting Berlin during his travels; a city that has seen plenty of turmoil in the past century [as well as spawning the renowned Bauhaus art movement].
"I was going down to the dark points of my life in writing this album," he explains. "Places where I degraded myself, places where I was spurned, where I was a doormat, where I would literally want to destroy someone if I could. Not in the attempt to immediately rectify it or justify it. I just needed to express it. I needed to be able to be damaged, to have faults, to show the darkness."
With influences ranging from Radiohead to Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell to Björk, it was actually the music of Tori Amos that propelled him to become a recording artist. "She opened a door really. I realized that the piano could really go and explore music that is visceral, that has a raw emotional quality. Create something that really speaks to your heart."
The soundscape of Sacket''s music envelops the soul. "Strings are just mandatory-- even while recording in a home studio," says Sacha. "I wanted to take the piano somewhere new with this album, and I wanted to make sure the computer had its place. I also really needed to make sure there was a strong acoustic element to the album. My producer, Mike Baiardi, made the point that there really was a startling amount of different elements being brought together. To me it was just obvious. That was what I wanted."
The song "Kite High!" could be a radio staple for disenfranchised youth who are in need of a shining light. "It really came out of one of my lowest lows," Sacket reveals. "I was at this point of feeling like a complete failure in life, in everything I was doing. I was far from finishing the album. I felt rather useless. It was about that time that I began surfing in Malibu, and it really just released me. I stopped trying to control my life and let it take me for a ride. I started believing again."
An inspired Sacket became incredibly prolific as he explored complex characters with cathartic reflection and a dramatic styling for what became the twelve track album, Shadowed. "I ended up writing a total of about 100 songs. I really went to those life and death situations where a life is beginning or ending--emotional or otherwise. Where your humanity truly reveals itself. When your character is tested, the underlying truth"
In "The Prodigal," we find the trust fund kid dealing with lack of fulfillment, while "Sweet Suicide" came out of "the need to save a person who is constantly destroying himself." "Desire" is "the man who never followed his dream," and "Cruel Attempt" was "an unrequited love. Acting like he doesn''t care, when he is dying inside." "At A Time" is the break up song, "being at a place where you are unable to be in a relationship no matter what the other person does. It really is an apology to the other person," says Sacket.
"Cockatoo" is where the character gets to the point where he will let another person destroy him as long as he is not alone. "The idea of the cockatoo being much like a parrot," Sacket explains. "I will say what you tell me to say. I will believe anything you tell me, ''just don''t leave me alone,'' and ''I Just Can''t'' is the result of ''Cockatoo.'' Becoming absolutely disgusted over a relationship that was entirely abusive." The title-track "Shadowed" is about dealing with an alcoholic. "The crazy relationship that ensues of trying to save someone who is always telling you to save yourself."
On a more positive note, "Paris and September" is about being saved by someone who won''t let you runaway, while "Palestine" is a compelling contrast. "I wanted to write a song about my experience of letting go of all my hard expectations but use Palestine and the Middle East as an allegory," says Sacket.
Having studied film and theatre at the University of Southern California, Sacha manifests his dramatic talent for documenting stunning characters with provocative intensity and grandeur. Shadowed is the follow up to Sacket''s well-received debut album, Alabaster Flesh. The austere artist has honed his craft performing on the coffee house and club circuit as well as appearing with his band at universities and music festivals nationwide.
"I am in love with unrequited love", Sacket reveals. "I will write about that to the end. It''s the story of my life. There is an absolute need and compulsion for honesty in whatever I write. What you hear is my barest self."