Rating: 9/10
Japanese-Canadian artist Saya Gray’s newest album, “SAYA,” is a complex whirlwind of emotion.
This chaotic and sometimes incoherent break-up album follows Gray’s attempt to piece her life together. The thrashing guitars and oscillating sound distortion throughout the album are representative of her complex feelings.
“SAYA” was born “after the dissolution of a troubled romantic entanglement,” according to the album’s liner notes. Gray spent the fall of 2023 in Japan, road-tripping around the country with her guitar. Her journey brought the swirling 39-minute grief-stricken odyssey into existence.
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Her first full-length debut album, “19 MASTERS,” felt like disjointed thoughts that never quite fell together. In contrast, “SAYA” masterfully takes the disorder of her mind and turns it into something beautiful.
“..THUS IS WHY ( I DON’T SPRING 4 LOVE )” opens the album with haunting elegance, beginning with pulsing electronic blips before Gray’s voice slinks in.
“Indigo/ Where were you when I needed you most?” Gray ruminates, her words settling quietly against a resounding bass. “You loved me differently/ I loved you all the same.”
Gray doesn’t pair her lyrics with melancholic guitar chords or weeping strings. Each verse carries a guttural sense of grief that doesn’t need to be accompanied by desolate melodies. Instead, uniquely visceral instrumentals — a psychedelic fusion of crashing guitars and sleek hyperpop — complement her voice.
There is even a touch of folk influence on “SAYA,” which is evident in “SHELL ( OF A MAN ).” The chirpy pluck of a banjo creates a winding backtrack to Gray’s gossamer falsetto. Her voice dances in tune with the track’s lilting cadence, perfectly aligned with the rise and fall of each phrase.
Like many of her other songs, Gray does what she wants on “SHELL ( OF A MAN ).” Clever, exasperated and undeniably self-aware, she doesn’t feel the need to follow conventional rules of grief or music.
This unfiltered approach is also prevalent on “LINE BACK 22,” as Gray’s low groans echo over the keyboard in a cosmic-sounding cascade of layers. She portrays grief with a lush vibrancy and surreal depth. The track feels like more of a glistening oil painting than a song.
Glittery harps are met with subtle hums, dissolving back into her vocals before switching into a harsh electronic whirl.
Distorted sounds hum over the ever-quickening backbeat of the drum, Gray repeating vocal melodies that sink directly into the following song, “PUDDLE ( OF ME ).”
“You know there’s a puddle of me at your feet,/ isn’t that what you needed of me?” Gray asks, her voice alight with a quiet resignation. “You know how obsessed I can get with your needle and thread pulling in and out of me.”
It’s a disorientingly fluid transition. The electronic tones melt into the guitar’s taut melody before Gray’s words crash over you in an all-consuming wave.
It’s the disappointing feeling, the muted stab in the gut when you realize the one you love will never be the right person for you. That look from across the room when they say something that clarifies it, that sinking sensation when you know you have to leave but aren’t sure how.
“EXHAUST THE TOPIC” is perhaps the most unrestrained song on “SAYA.” The sharp cleverness and sarcastic cockiness that graced previous songs is replaced by clear vulnerability.
Beneath the anger, loss and heartbreak of “SAYA,” an underlying feeling of disappointment lingers. It’s etched into her skin — her eyes downcast with exhaustion, her body weighed down by defeat. “EXHAUST THE TOPIC” makes this unmistakably clear.
Whatever leftover emotion Gray had been attempting to mask with biting humor erupts in a crash of guitars and fiery verses. Her voice transforms into a surge of raw emotion.
“I’ve been looking for a god every day, it’s a/ symptom of the system,” Gray sings, the thorny ache in her voice palpable. “Maybe it’s ‘cause I’ve been looking for a love,/ for a love, love I’ve never given.”
“SAYA” asks the listener not to feel bad for her but to feel with her — to sit in the passenger seat of her cross-country road trip, broken-hearted with a scattered mind. With each crash of the percussion, the echo of her breathy falsetto and the embrace of the rich melodies, maybe something will resonate.
