Review | Sade Olutola – Arrow Heart

By Julian Laws

Label: Rogue Colective

Exuding a noughties, bedroom pop-vibe and echoing artists such as PinkPantheress, Lola Young, ELIZA, and Willow, this EP provides a snippet into the talented mind of its creator. It excites listeners for what is to come from Sade Olutola’s inevitable meteoric climb to the big stages. 

Opening with the track ‘2099‘, the listener is hooked in with Sade’s catchy melody motifs, booming sub bass and repetitive, tasteful synth lines, which are all set in a wide and ever shifting stereo field. Creating a space that allows for Sade’s musical playfulness to be let free.  

As the EP progresses, so does the danceability and the fun. Although the songs’ topics weave in and out of varying themes, at once lamenting, accusatory and angry, they also swiftly shift into an ethereal fun with hooks littered throughout, effortlessly succeeding in piquing listeners’ interests.

The music that surrounds the attitudes and subject matters set the tonal qualities of Sade Olutola’s sound. This, in my opinion, is the sign of a great artist. Someone that can release an EP, and after the first song or two, sonically establish their tone –  bespoke to themselves. The vibe is quickly felt and the emotions swiftly generated, thus achieving what music is all about! 

‘Ready 4 It‘ showcases a glissando and bouncy bass, with lyrics that elude to Sade hoping a partner or friend are ready for what she can offer. It is a track of self-confidence and self-love, of knowing one’s worth. Lyrics that shine are ‘suffocate your ego please’ or  ‘ ‘unfold your dead arms, place your height on my open arms’. In the song’s context she’s referring to a partner or a relationship, but I also think it can also apply to Sade’s rise to fame and her ambition –  are we ready for her, I say lets all unfold our dead arms and place our height (our trust) in what this emerging talent can offer.

Bolstered by her ever interesting instagram presence, Sade Olutola is doing everything right in cementing herself within the scene. For fans of muted brass parts, catchy melodies, stabs of industrial clangours (at times even reminding me of The Blue Nile, especially their song ‘The Downtown Lights‘), expansive stereo fields and distorted guitar riffs, this EP is a bit of you!

Lets all sit back and watch whilst Sade Olutola’s monthly streamers only compound, and her career snowball to swell in success.