Hello Reader,
Welcome back. How are you?
Today we’re going to delve into Sarah Grace White. White was born into a talented family involved in the entertainment industry in the US, the daughter of actress and singer Katey Sagal (best known for characters on the TV shows Married…With Children, Futurama, 8 Simple Rules, and Sons of Anarchy, to name a few) and drummer and sometimes 90s actor Jack White. No not that Jack White. Her brother is actor Jackson White.
Sarah also acts but has focused more on her music career the past several years trying to find her own voice publicly. White says, “The need overcame the fear and it felt harder to ignore it than to just do it.” She teamed up with drummer and mixer Jorge Balbi for her debut and other members of critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and übertalented human, Sharon Van Etten’s band. White’s debut Are You Here This Time EP (2023) served as a warm welcome as White set foot within the music industry, and the EP garnered positive reviews. White recently said about her experience over the last year, “I’ve felt a lot of imposter syndrome this past year because I didn’t spend my entire adolescence playing shows like so many of my peers, but I’m learning that my experience is my experience – and so much of my life spent performing in other ways has informed how I feel onstage. So many of the reasons I was afraid to play music publicly for so long are coming back around as the reason I’m doing it. I’ve never felt so grateful to be new, and it’s all I want to do.”
Luckily for all of us, on Friday June 28th comes White’s second musical output, Sinkhole EP for your listening pleasure. A sign of what to expect on the new EP? White says, “I love music where you can hear the negative space, and you feel it in your whole body.”
Giving credit where it’s due. Sinkhole EP credits:
- Sarah Grace White was the main songwriter, and performed vocals on all tracks, played piano and synth on multiple tracks, and bells on “Light”
- Jorge Balbi played drums, and synth on all tracks. He created the drum programming on “Light”, and mixed three of the four tracks.
- Garret Lang played bass guitar on “Light”
- Greg Uhlmann played guitar on “Sinkhole”
- Daniel Goldblum played bassoon, and contrabassoon on “Sinkhole”
- Adam Gunther played bass guitar on “Light” and mixed “Light” and played both guitar and Moog synthesizer on “Your Man”
- Sean O’Brien played steel guitar on “Light”
- Charley Damski played guitar on “Light” and co-wrote “Your Man”
- Emily Elkin played Cello on “Your Man”
- Ben Babbitt played bass on “Your Man”
- Devin Hoff played upright bass on “All I Can Do”
- The EP was co-produced by Sarah Grace White and Jorge Balbi.
- The EP was engineered by Josh Block and Jorge Balbi.
- The EP was mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty.
- The cover photo was taken by Emilie Wilde.
And now for some hype for your ears and eyes!
Thinking about you, thinking about others in the cinematic video for “Sinkhole”:
(All credits and rights to Sarah Grace White)
The video for “Your Man” begins in the Hollywood Hills”:
(All credits and rights to Sarah Grace White)
Overall, Sinkhole EP is another step forward for White. She’s finding her voice and confidence and creating even better songs than her debut. Each vocal delivery that she uses match the melody and lyrics perfectly and show off some of her range. Sinkhole EP is further proof that Balbi and White make great music together. The inclusion of some less traditionally found instrumentation (within most Pop music especially) is a brilliant touch. Kudos to those decision makers. These instruments fit within the melodies. And are fantastic on their own. The musicians assembled are top notch and the arrangements are great. The songwriting shows growth and is well crafted. The mix and sound quality are as good as it gets. Is the next step an entire album? I hope so, when White is ready.
The titular song, “Sinkhole” is a great way to kick off an EP and would also serve as a great start to a full album. The melody is built on a drum sequence and guitar string plucking at the start of this song that will probably have your head bobbing to the beat. It’s a structured arrangement that pairs succinctly with White’s vocal pace and tone. The addition of bass guitar, piano and synth are a nice touch for this melody. The introduction of the woodwind family, specifically the contrabassoon (bassoon’s one octave lower cousin) and bassoon itself. Both are played by Goldblum and truly stand out when they are given time to shine via solos. Call me a sucker but I love the inclusion of the bassoon family in a song. The lyrics tell of a present experience with a romantic interest while thinking of a past partner with some admiration and hope of the latter.
The looping of the programmed drumming to begin “Light” allows for a fantastic foundation on which the instrumentation is slowly layered upon, in the end creating a great lasagna. The addition of pedal steel played gorgeously by O’Brien further enhances the melancholy vibes that pair with White’s more whispered delivery in the first third of the song before she changes her vocal delivery as more instrumentation is added. White even layers her own vocals during the refrains to an almost like choral effect. The lyrics are longing and come from a point of frustration.
Cello enthusiasts unite! Emily Elkin plays a great cello-based intro to begin the song “Your Man” and it sounds fantastic. It is soon paired with drums from Balbi. I also like Gunther’s guitar and Moog synth work on this one. In my opinion, both are great additions to the sound. This song is anthemic, the lyrics come from a point of anger towards a former partner, with a lot of accusations including not being honest. In that anger as the song progress it becomes cathartic due in large part to a wonderful use of refrains to drive the point home with White layering her vocals again creating that purge.
“All I Can Do” features the most stripped-down melody of the songs on this EP. There’s no rhythm section, just White seated at the piano paired with Hoff’s lovely upright bass notes. The result is what I think are White’s best crafted lyrics on the Sinkhole EP and her close to the mic, confessional vocal delivery elevate this song to one of the best on the EP. It’s hard to choose a favorite as all four songs bring something different to the table especially in terms of style.
Sinkhole EP gets 4.5 of 5 Scum Drops from me. It is worthy of the 4.5 Scum Drops rating range relative to all EPs released to this point in 2024. It’s mid-year so we’ll see how it shapes up at year end as more EPs are released. You couldn’t craft these songs much better than these versions. That being said, many won’t find anything to dislike at all. I love to see the strides made since last year’s EP Are You Here This Time and hear the arrangements and compositions. I recommend adding this to your collection on the format of your choosing.
Sinkhole EP Track listing (song length)
- Sinkhole (3:59)
- Light (3:24)
- Your Man (3:55)
- All I Can Do (4:56)
Total runtime: 16:14
I’ll always advocate that you take the time to listen to every album or EP in its entirety. The process with this EP from start to finish will take you just over 30 minutes of your time if you do so twice. Along the way, you’ll discover your own favorite songs without the influence or bias of others. After a few listens on my own, the songs that are highlighted in green font above are my favorite songs on this album.
A good place to start to find out more about Sarah, including socials is her website linked right here.
Thank you for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
