St. Augustine’s Sawpaw Preview a Resonant Debut with “Different Sound,” “Eileen”

The self-titled debut album from Ancient City alt-country trio Sawpaw is right around the corner, but why wait when we have advance tracks to catch up with? Ahead of Sawpaw’s release on Oct. 11 via Tampa’s Ashtray Monument, the band has shared two singles, “Different Sound” and “Eileen,” showcasing a sound that evokes their hometown while promising to resonate beyond it.

Lead single “Different Sound,” released in late August, combines bar-band brawn with a distinctly Southern geniality, resulting in a warm, melodic strummer that knows the more things change, the more they stay the same. “What’s another story? / What’s another round?” wonders guitarist Andrew Virga, whose riffs and harmonies with bassist Hunter Miller are equally hooky. Later, Miller and drummer Jacob Hamilton hold down the low end with veteran ease while Virga extrapolates the track’s melody into a solo.

Mid-September’s “Eileen,” meanwhile, has weightier emotions on its mind, with a more downcast tone, deliberate pace and expansive runtime to match. Again, it’s Virga’s guitar that immediately draws you in, but it’s the band’s seamless cohesion that keeps you around for the long haul. “I don’t know you / I don’t know myself,” Virga laments, his narrator’s heartbreak colliding with the forceful instrumentation around him—the track’s thunderous momentum, unrelenting, comes to feel symbolic of his inner turmoil.

Sawpaw recorded their 10-track debut album with Rob McGregor at Gainesville’s Goldentone Studios earlier this year. They’ll celebrate its Oct. 11 release with a hometown show at Spinster Abbott’s.

Sawpaw is available for preorder on vinyl now.

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Listen to Sawpaw on: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music

All songs featured in our Local Spotlight series can be found on our Fresh Squeeze Playlist and in rotation (at 20-minutes after the hour) on our music discovery radio station, The Independent.