SAINT SAPPHO’S NOSTALGIC NEW SINGLE ‘FLOATING’ WILL GET YOU THINKING, FEELING AND REPLAYING THIS SPRING

SINGLE REVIEW | SAINT SAPPHO – FLOATING by Martha Munro

For the queer, Glaswegian, alt-rock couple Saint Sappho – comprised of Tammy Dyson and Zoe Young – it’s all about reflection. With their dynamic double-single release of Fall Into The Lie and Silver Linings at the tail end of 2024, they explored personal and political planes alike, expressing fear, nihilism and the longing for something better in their hazy shoegaze soundscape.

With their latest, nostalgia-packed single Floating, the two dive deeper into this critical world, using memories, fear, hope, and their strong Britpop influences to craft a work that is dark, daring and deeply infused with their signature eerie personality.

Released 11th April under ‘Optimo Music,’ Floating explores existentialism, isolation and brief glimpses of optimism in our modern world, strung together with reverb, heavy electrics and heart-driven vocals. The inspirations for this song were 90s nobility – the likes of REM, The Verve, Suede – and this single, like the rest of their most recent releases, is full-sounding, thought-provoking and addictive.

Floating’s intro immediately gives the impression of a 90s Britpop throwback with its building push-and-pull of whining electric guitar and echoing feedback; nostalgia is immediately at the heart of this single. Acoustic strumming backs this up too, along with the steady foundation of Dyson’s dynamic drum beats that reel in Young’s yearning, dragging, dreamily hazy vocals.

With a brief, rhythmic drum variation, Dyson launches the song into a new key and new section – the fact that the track moves on quite quickly here keeps it flowing, allowing the longer chorus sections to be built-up, adapted and adorned with new electronic elements.

As Young begins the longing-laced refrain of the hook ‘Floating back to it all,’ a perfect contrast is created between the new, airy, light key and the deep, exploratory vocals that now hold more melancholy in their elongated lines. More delicate electronic sounds start to trickle in here too and further pad out the reverb-rife soundscape being created.

Moving into the short, second verse, the electric guitar takes the reins, weaving over and under the smooth vocal lines with new patterns, timbres and mixing. Again, the impact comes in with the return to the chorus, which is packed full of new synthesised found sounds and whining instrumental feedback. Despite the fact that so many different elements are being combined here, the result is nothing short of ethereal. This harmony is even more impressive when considering that Floating was recorded, produced and mixed at Dyson and Young’s home studio, composed with passion and their ‘sounds like it fits’ approach to music-making – and here, everything most certainly fits.

The electronic lines begin to trail out as the bridge is introduced: a definite highlight. The sound is reduced to highlight the acoustic guitar strumming and vocals, singing a new, thoughtful refrain ‘This lonely world / This sinking world.’ The key themes of nihilism and isolation are epitomised here, and their pervasive nature is demonstrated as the sound builds right back up again, complete with alien elements and eeriness.

Since the song has become so consuming by this point, you don’t know it’s going until it’s gone, hammering home that feeling of nostalgia once more before the warbling synth and lethargic acoustic guitar bring the track to its end.

Overall, Floating is nothing less than another creative triumph to add to Saint Sappho’s roster. While they’re still making their way up that crowded UK indie ladder, they have their haunting, heavenly sound established and clearly know who they are as a musical duo: a powerhouse of thought, creativity and smoky sonic worlds.