19-year old Saba Lou has great pedigree as the daughter of garage-rock icon King Khan. However, she’s striking it out on her own with a retro sound that recalls Nancy Sinatra or Holly Golightly. Today we’re premiering her new song “Primrose Diner” as well as being the first to announce her new album. The record is called Novum Ovum and will be out on October 25 on Ernest Jenning Record Co. (which is also the home of her dad’s imprint, which is called Khannibalism). While this version of the album has full-band arrangements, Saba Lou has indicated plans to record the album with solo arrangements as well.
My bandmates give the pieces so much,” said Saba Lou. “Oska, who I’ve been playing with for over three years now, can read my thoughts with his lead lines. He comes from a rougher rock’n’roll background and adds a sharp edge. Amit and Omri, who have played together and been best friends for ages, originate from the Tel-Aviv jazz scene and play with an ease I can’t begin to describe. Omri can adapt to anything, an intuitively steady base. Amit’s versatility on the keys is ridiculous and the synth bass, of which I personally am very fond, adds a fluidity only a pianist can achieve. We are all close friends and working in such a familiar environment is a blessing. It’s important to me that the full band isn’t viewed as a ‘step up’ but rather like an alternative. I intend to record a solo version of the album in the style of the first as I don’t want to lose the living room quality, though the band’s company, of course, is priceless. It is with great pride and (Klingon) honor that I present this work to the world, this morsel of my mind. In hopes it will stir you and incite honesty and love, I bade you farewell.”
Despite her young age, Saba Lou has over a decade of experience recording and releasing music. She was born in Germany and moved to Berlin when she was a young child and starting her music career soon after. She released a 7″ with four songs at the tender age of 6 and later a song of hers was used in a Cartoon Network show Clarence. Her first album was released at the age of 15. Novum Ovum has the retro vibes and punk pacing of her father’s music though has a voice and sound of its own (and it skips the crass humor of many King Khan recordings).
“Primrose Diner” starts out with a simple guitar line and a mid-paced tempo, showcasing Saba Lou’s rich and sultry singing style. The simple arrangements get louder and fuller as the song progresses, hitting a bit of a honky-tonk strut before culminating in a singalong chorus of “please let me take you away / just for the night if I may.”
“The title song (Novum Ovum) was inspired by a specifically painful ovulation (credits to endometriosis) that happened on-stage, I wrote the lyrics as a bad mood poem to vent my frustration the day after,” said Saba Lou. “Especially lyrically this album is very dear to me as I feel I’ve expressed myself more freely and abstractly, it’s a collection of things that popped into my mind, while I feel the first was more of a ‘testing-the-waters’ type thing, though just as honest at that time. A time during which I would not have felt at liberty to write a song from the perspective of Gracie, the pregnant whale from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (final song, “Humpback In Time”) as Spock mindmelds with her. It came very naturally to me, the lyrics are more or less first thoughts I had during that scene.”
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