Sad13
Haunted Painting
Release Date: Sep 25, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Wax Nine Records
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Album Review: Haunted Painting by Sad13
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Sadie Dupuis may be best known as the frontwoman, guitarist, and lyricist for Speedy Ortiz, but she also displayed a gift for glittery DIY pop with her work under the pseudonym Sad13. First releasing “Basement Queens” in 2016 with Lizzo—before Lizzo was a household name—then following up with her full-length debut Slugger, Dupuis proved herself as an expert pop songsmith. Though it has been three years without music from Dupuis under the Sad13 moniker, she released another Speedy Ortiz album as well as a book of poetry in the meantime.
Based on rating 4/5
How do you decompress from life on the road with your indie-rock band? You whack another solo pop album, played and produced entirely by a selection of badass female musicians, of course. Having captured hearts in Speedy Ortiz, 'Haunted Painting' sees Sadie Dupuis finally letting go of the grief that has worried at the back of her head, processing her emotions head on in order to create work that she describes as being 'truer' than anything before. As a result, 'Haunted Painting' makes for surprisingly light relief.
Based on rating 8/10
With Haunted Painting, Sadie Dupuis may have outgrown the confines of what her solo project Sad13 was originally designed to do -- and that's a good thing. Dupuis made most of her debut album Slugger's subversions of mainstream pop in her bedroom and they (proudly) sounded like it. This time, she tops her homemade recordings with additional tracking at studios such as Elliott Smith's former haunt, New Monkey, and with instrumentation that ranges from trash to an eight-piece orchestra.
Based on rating 7.6/10
A few years ago at Seattle's Frye Museum, Sadie Dupuis locked eyes with Saharet, painted by Franz von Stuck in a 1902 portrait. The famous vaudeville dancer is pictured in a green gown, a red rose in her hair, her lips slightly parted in a smile; upon first glance, she appears content. But dark shadows encircle Saharet's eyes and her cheeks are ghostly white, a stark contrast.
Based on rating 7/10
If you are fortunate enough to live somewhere where the air is getting cooler, and the leaves – and not the sky — are turning different shades of red, then Haunted Painting by Sad13 might seem appropriate for a playfully macabre seasonal soirée. The title "Ghost (of a Good Time)" says it all. The music is whimsical even in its morbidity. This isn't slowcore or death metal, it's pop; not so much drowning sorrows in cheap whiskey as in a bowl of glowing green punch. But this is, of course, only a superficial read of Haunted Painting. After her debut as Sad13, 2016's Slugger, Sadie Dupuis — also a founding member of Speedy Ortiz — experienced crippling personal grief that prohibited her from making music. .
'Haunted Painting'
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