Saint Mad – Waiting to Start

Saint Mad are a four piece band from Philadelphia, USA. Their unique selling point lies in their instrumentation. Jim Harris plays guitar and bass, Martha Michael plays trumpet and harmonica, Molly Mahoney is on keyboards and Lynda Chen plays euphonium. The band has released their debut CD “Waiting to Start” produced by Daoud Shaw who also performs percussion on various tracks.

The CD starts with an upbeat ditty “Can’t Let Go”. This track has it all: lush layered vocal harmonies and intricate but understated brass lines that interplay with each other. Add in some rock and roll piano for the solo and it all adds up to be the perfect track to launch the disk. The second track follows this up with “I See Myself in You” which is a beautifully laid back and slightly melancholic piece. It features a rather excellent Trumpet solo from Martha Michael. Jim Harris’ voice is mature, a little shaky – but that’s a good thing as it shows a little vulnerability. Perfect for this song! The third song “God Gives You What You Need” has some amazing percussion work, delicately placed in the mix – to support the melodies and carry the tune along. The band are giving away their Christian beliefs but what I like about it, is that they are not preaching, just affirming their faith. The fourth song “Live” is a wonderful with a latin jazz feel to it.

My favourite track has to be “O Sweet Spontaneous” as this is a definite stand out track of the twelve numbers. According to the bands website Martha wrote most of the music, set to a poem by E.E. Cummings. The harmonies here are exquisite and the vocal textures superb. Even the backing has an incredible laid back jazz funk groove and the scale runs and muted trumpet rounds it all off nicely. Then the Hammond organ comes in to try and steal the show. This is so cool! The rest of the CD continues with strong song after strong song and includes very tasteful covers of the Beatle’s “Across the Universe” and Arlen & Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow”

The vocal harmonies, though carefully thought out are sometimes out of sync with each other and there are also occasional pitching problems with Jim’s vocals, mainly when he stretches himself. For example on “Not for a long time” – this is perhaps more apparent due to the stripped back arrangement. I felt that his voice would also benefit from a little digital reverb especially in the more sparse arrangements. This genre is also quite a niche market – but hats off to them for just doing what they love – making music.

Overall this is a very tasteful and warm-hearted album from Saint Mad. Each song is well crafted, and has a lot of variety. The strong suit of this band is the vocal melodies and carefully arranged harmonies, but it’s the trumpet and euphonium that provide for the bands unique selling point. It’s just the icing on the cake. The colours and textures on this CD provide for an excellent feel-good vibe and I cant help but think that if they build on the strengths of this recording their next offering could be totally outstanding! A look around their website tells you that they don’t take themselves too seriously and they are a fun band to listen to – no doubt a blast to see live. I’m due another visit to the States and Philadelphia is one of my favourite places to stay, hopefully I will catch them at a live show…who knows? I hope so.

This article was written by Neil Thomas for Rock n Roll View.