Saintseneca’s a Welcome Surprise at The High Watt

Nashville – Saintseneca’s show at The High Watt was one of the best I’ve stumbled into since I saw A.A. Bondy on a whim in 2010. I hadn’t heard from this band beforehand, but the vocal choruses on their 2011 album were enough to get me in the door. Lucky me.

Saintseneca is a four-piece band from Columbus, Ohio. They got started playing the DIY circuit, but things have picked up speed for them in the past couple years. The lovely vocal stylings of Maryn Jones were recently added to the band, and Anti- signed them on board. Now they’re on tour, and Nashville was the first stop.

Saintseneca’s set-up was modest: A couple floor toms held down the percussion end; the rest of their sound was made from vocal harmonies and a hodgepodge of stringed instruments. Their set confirmed that music is better when the band can be heard. Better than the all-too-common occurrence of band members drowning each other out, making lyrics pointless and earplugs a necessity. These guys knew how to play together, graciously passing off modest solos and harmonies.

If the band itself was modest, lead singer Zac Little’s moustache was immodest. (It warrants the “o”.) It was actually so large that it was difficult to tell at first which band member was doing the singing. Fortunately we could hear him though as he sang beautiful, dark lyrics like those on “Beasts”: “Remind me why I’m here again. I hate the old Ohio wind…Don’t I know? This residue collects in my bones. It’s marrow curdling. It singes my toes in my sleep.” Zac sang with a touch of nasally grunge in his voice, enough to bring to mind Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel who also had a penchant for poignant, offbeat lyrics.

Little’s lyrics wouldn’t be half as powerful though without his band of multi-instrumentalists. Throughout the set, they quietly passed around a mandolin, banjo, guitar, and some weird stringed instrument, which, much research has unveiled, is a Strumstick. Maryn Jones sang harmonies, quiet and confident next to Little. Her voice added richness to the songs and made them more interesting than they would be on their own.

Aside from the 7” that the band released in 2013 with Anti-, Saintseneca’s records don’t do justice to their live performance. Though they don’t talk much and they aren’t there as flamboyant entertainers, their skill as musicians has a way of brushing against your nerve endings. Hopefully this skill will translate onto their next record, Dark Arc, which is set to be released in March of this year. Catch them on tour across the United States from now through April.

Photos By Karen Smarsh

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Caroline McDonald

My first memory is of singing Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” quietly to myself during preschool naptime. Perhaps it’s because I’m from Nashville where an instrument lives in every home, but music has gripped me for as long as I can remember.

After dabbling in many parts of the music industry—recording studios, PR, management, labels, publishing—I’m expanding into music journalism because I’m yet to find anything more rewarding that finding and sharing new music.

A longtime sucker for girls with guitars, my musical taste unabashedly follows the songwriting lineage of Dolly Parton and includes Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, and Neko Case. But not to pigeonhole myself, my music love is big love that stretches from R.L. Burnside to Animal Collective to Lord Huron.

I’ve recently moved home to Nashville after living in Boston and Big Sur for several years. I’d forgotten how music pours onto the streets ten hours a day, seven days a week. I’m honored to share the creative explosion happening here. If your band is in the area or of the area, please reach out!