SINGLE REVIEW: AMBER SAQLADI - NO APOLOGIES

From the startling cover through to the quite probably the most powerful set of lyrics you'll hear all year, "No Apologies" marks yet another extraordinary single from Amber Saqladi. For someone with so few songs released, her attention to detail in the way that she both sounds and is visually presented is amazing.

If you've ever seen Amber Saqladi live, and that in itself is an experience, you'll know that "No Apologies" forms the climax of her set. This is a song about the violence that men act out on women and the somewhat perverse media portrayal, that in some way it is the fault of the woman. It is not the subject of your average pop country song, but then Amber Saqladi is no average performer, she is a free spirit, an enigma and on this song she is enraged and performs with a passion that will not be quelled.

There's a weird backwards electronica that starts the song before Amber opens the song proper, initially just her and an acoustic guitar, with the occasional piano chord, on what sounds more like a traditional folk song from Spain or Greece. The lyrics though are pointed and razor sharp - if you make it past the opening two lines then you are locked in and there is no way out without wanting to see through the journey that this song is going to take you on

"I once met a man, blinding with pleasantries

But he broke my soul and used the shards as knives to make me bleed

Seems women like me, were born just to seethe

At the way our fates are woven with the violence that they seek"

This is pent up frustration not just from Amber's life, but etched worldwide in the annals of history. It only gets more intense in the second verse, there's an almost claustrophobic feeling of blood starting to boil, as the sound grows ever louder.

"Cause are you really fool enough

To think your lust for my blood

Is your predecessor's DNA confusing me with prey?

Cause if it's evolutionary

Shouldn't that account for me

And all the women whose great—grandmothers once held their weapons too?

No?

Then it's just you"

The chorus sees the sound fully explodes into life with Amber leading from the very front and quite rightly she is totally unapologetic. There are big pounding drums, wailing backing vocals that all grind to a halt on the final line of the chorus.

"Now I'm out for blood - Cause I've had enough

Of my sisters being spun as sinners for feeling the pain

Caused by no others, than those we'd call brothers

And you can bring me to my knees,

But you can't choose how loud I scream

And you can tell me to be sorry

But there's no apologies, no not from me"

"No Apologies" packs more into its three minutes forty seconds than some artists mange on an entire album - Amber emerges from the chorus singing an entirely different tune to all that has gone before. A rising contempt sung over almost tribal drumming, yet it is sung with Amber wrapping her vocal around the various sophisticated melodies. The lyrics remain uncompromising, spelling out the hard truths that go unacknowledged.

"She rejected him and so he killed her

Why can't you see her blood weighs more than all the anger in my tears?

Cause if the crime of misandry should duel with misogyny

Like a lion and a cat

You'll see they both have sharp teeth

But only one is deadly"

Coming out of the chorus Amber takes on another musical diversion

"And I've tried

Oh, I've tried being kind

Yeah, I've smiled

To change even one mind

Oh, I've tried

But to save my peace of mind I'm changing sides"

The final chorus starts with just Amber and her guitar, the sound is muted for the opening two lines before pummeling drum beats announce the return of the band.

There is a final defiant "No not from me" that concludes "No Apologies" - There really is little chance of fully doing justice to all that has passed, there is a bombardment of sound and lyrics that requires multiple listens just to even begin to get a handle on what is occurring. Amber Saqladi is undoubtedly the real deal and immensely entertaining in whatever format you meet her in.