Say She She – ‘Cut And Rewind’ album review: Disco but make it angular
Disco feels like somewhat of a difficult genre to innovate in. Every syncopated bassline and upstroked guitar melody feels drenched in pastiche, designed only to celebrate what has come before, not what is coming next. Say She She, however, are determined to falsify that idea and prove it has a place in this confused new reality.
Because it’s not all-out disco in the sense where songs come out covered in glitter, bobbing between the kaleidoscopic light flecks of the mirrorball above, instead, it at times combines luscious vocal harmonies and light shimmers of a synthesiser with often angular bass and guitar lines, to bring it into a more obscure and appropriate modern world.
Track opener ‘Cut and Rewind’ is perhaps the shining example of this mission statement. It bobs in a way most indie sleazers of the mid-2000s would have been pleased with, but it remains buoyant with the guitar strumming pattern that exists throughout it. In essence, that’s exactly what this album does; it gives itself space to explore fresh ideas, so long as one element stays at home, giving them the traditional sensibilities they feel comfortable in.
There’s an innate live feel record, which comes as no surprise given its recording context. Laid down in the immediacy after their 2023 support tour of the band Silver, Say She She wanted to capture the enigmatic energy of the live shows they had just enjoyed. “We never record anything that we can’t recreate live,” explains Piya Malik. “It’s the same thing when the three of us are up on stage that happens in the studio.”
Which is a noble act to follow when you continue on through the record. Some of the tracks feel so densely layered that it’s a wonder how their rhythm section, Dan Hastie, Sam Halterman, Dale Jennings, and Sergio Rios of the funk band Orgone, could comfortably perform them live. The third track, ‘Disco Life’ is an outright celebration of the community that gave them their treasured genre and is such a laser-focused performance from all the members involved that it will undoubtedly be the shining light of their live set, permitting it does, in fact, sound like the record.
‘Chapters’ and ‘She Who Dares’ are perhaps the best examples of the vocal range within this band. Because make no mistake, the instrumentation and arrangement are without a doubt the star of this show, bathing the listener in intrigue at every sonic turn. But these two songs take the focus away from that for a brief moment, allowing the vastly impressive range of these three vocalists to soar on top.
It’s undoubtedly luscious as an entire listen, however, the aforementioned opener ‘Cut and Rewind’ as well as ‘Do All Things With Love’ are the primary two songs that offer an outright alternative to that. The latter track introduces an almost Darth Vader-sounding guitar line that offsets the beauty in a curious way, which, upon hearing, had me briefly wishing there was somewhat of a prelude to that earlier in the record. But ultimately, it’s a bona fide celebration of modern disco, and the instrumentation of that idea is almost perfectly executed.
Defining track: ‘Disco Life’ – This all-out celebration of the genre that inspired them is unashamedly pastiche in its sentiment but undeniably refreshing in its execution.
For fans of: Nightclubs where no one drinks pints and everyone drinks cocktails.
A concluding comment from Dua Lipa: “Oh, that’s how you do it without ripping people off?”
Release date: October 3rd, 2025 | Producer: Sergio Rios | Label: drinksumwtr
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