Drawing us in with an ethereal guitar performance, Chris Home opens Saturday High with cinematic allure and situational yet metaphorical prose, as he takes us on a journey symbolic of a Saturday night, but most certainly resonating on a more universal and existential level.
We appreciate the high emotional quotient of the piece and the idea of touching the sun, embracing hedonism and human connection. The instrumentation is sublime and Chris’s vocals and his Brit-pop inflections are captivating. The chanted middle eight is a welcome change, tapping into a more tribal energy before a sonic reprise for the finale.
There is a nostalgic 90s spirit running through the track, with echoes of Oasis and Reverend and the Makers, but also clearly something that Arctic Monkeys fans would vibe with. It’s inspiring and empowering, inviting notions of escapism at a time when we, as a society, need it the most.
Chris explains, “I love the moments in between – sharing the excitement and anticipation before something happens. That’s really what Saturday High is about.” We also love that the track introduces the wider philosophy of his forthcoming album, Everything Ends With Songs, which explores “the moments between things” and the feeling of looking backwards and forwards simultaneously.
The Barcelona recording sessions at RoomTo Studio also seem to have been integral to the record’s character, with producers Oscar García Bragado and Jason Boshoff helping with the arrangement. His wife Sarah also adds backing vocals to the chorus, bringing another layer of warmth to the already communal energy of the track. We could imagine Saturday High being featured in an episode of Shameless or Big Boys.
Needless to say, Saturday High feels like an inviting introduction to Chris Home’s next chapter, balancing nostalgia, anticipation and melodic immediacy. We have added Saturday High to our New Music Spotlight playlist and will be keeping an ear out for more from Everything Ends With Songs.