Sadurn
- bizzarre
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Sadurn announce new album The Underworld out 16th Oct via Run For Cover Records and share new single & video "whole thing".
Sadurn returns! Today the beloved indie folk band are back with the announcement of their anticipated sophomore album, The Underworld, due out October 16th via Run For Cover Records.
The Underworld follows Sadurn's acclaimed 2022 debut album, Radiator, and it expands the band's graceful blend of alt-country, bedroom pop, and intimate indie rock, while leaning even deeper into songwriter G DeGroot's heartrendingly personal lyrical honesty. The result is one of the most deeply human albums you'll hear this year, a document of hard-earned catharsis that somehow feels at once grounded and miraculous.
To mark the album's announcement, Sadurn have shared The Underworld's stunning lead single, "whole thing" a sprawling cut of warm vocal hooks, pedal steel, and lilting drums that builds to an emotional and sonic climax that's sure to have you hitting repeat the moment it's done.
Sadurn began purely as a creative and emotional exercise for DeGroot, but a cold email unexpectedly caught the attention of Run For Cover Records, and Radiator immediately connected with listeners and critics upon its release in 2022. It was an exciting and often daunting position for a new band to be in: suddenly this personal outlet had an enthusiastic audience.
“Right after we finished Radiator I already had new songs, but the idea that now there was some kind of expectation did change things in a negative way for me,"
DeGroot explains.
"So much of my sense of self had become tied up in the band, I got kind of swept up in the pressure of these internalised ideas about what’s going to be good for you or your life."
The strain of following up a well-received debut isn’t entirely uncommon among musicians, but for DeGroot it wasn’t simply a matter of wanting to make LP2—it became a question of whether or not they could physically do it. The pressure around the band was one thing, but amidst it all, DeGroot was also going through a very challenging breakup and dealing with the physical fallout.
“I was having chronic pain, problems with my voice, gut issues, It felt so urgent to try and keep things going, but my body was saying no.”
The Underworld captures DeGroot's journey to finding new ways to mentally and physically heal, an album of lived-in, earthly details, that also seems to reach beyond the things we can touch and see–a highly personal and metaphysical dedication to coming back to oneself told through one of the most universal experiences imaginable.
“The underworld is the hard times, but it’s also about getting back,”
says DeGroot.
“You go into the underworld so you can find clarity about your own being and come back changed. That’s just my fundamental belief about healing, it’s not about wallowing but you do need to move towards the darkness in order to transform it and get unstuck. It’s how you discover your most important powers.”
Many songwriters will tell you that music is an outlet, a way of processing the material of their lives. For whatever alchemical reason, music can sometimes express what words alone cannot. This was true for G DeGroot of Sadurn—until it wasn’t. Cut off from their ability to sing just as their music had begun to reach people, DeGroot had to find new ways to heal. It’s from this emotional and spiritual journey that Sadurn’s sophomore album The Underworld emerged - a collection of songs that is heartrendingly personal and instantly relatable, a document of hard-earned catharsis that somehow feels at once grounded and miraculous.
Sadurn began in 2017 as a solo project for G DeGroot, and from the start their approach to songwriting was informed more by emotional intuition than any kind of real ambitions to be heard.
“I discovered songwriting as an outlet for processing my reality. A lot of times when something is hard to say, it flows more easily in songwriting. It’s a place where you can circle back to your own truth.”
they explain.
After moving to Philadelphia, DeGroot was joined by guitarist Jon Cox, drummer Amelia Swain, and bassist Tabitha Ahnert; the group recorded Sadurn’s debut album, Radiator. After a cold email unexpectedly caught the attention of Run For Cover Records, the album was released in 2022 and despite Sadurn’s modest beginnings Radiator immediately connected with listeners and was met with critical acclaim.
It was an exciting and often daunting position to be in: suddenly this personal outlet had an enthusiastic audience.
“Right after we finished Radiator I already had new songs, but the idea that now there was some kind of expectation did change things in a negative way for me. So much of my sense of self had become tied up in the band, I got kind of swept up in the pressure of these internalised ideas about what’s going to be good for you or your life,”
DeGroot says.
“I think culturally everyone is trained to just follow the success machine, and even as musicians or artists we don't always question that–you think you need to chase the momentum ‘cause it’s ‘your dream.’”
The strain of following up a well-received debut isn’t entirely uncommon among musicians, but for DeGroot it wasn’t simply a matter of wanting to make LP2—it became a question of whether or not they could physically do it. The pressure around the band was one thing, but amidst it all, DeGroot was also going through a very challenging breakup.
“All of this stuff led to medical fallout for me, I was having chronic pain, problems with my voice, gut issues—it felt so urgent to try and keep things going, but my body was saying no.”
they explain.
The band was determined to share their new material in spite of these challenges, and finally began recording in January 2024.
“It felt like we were already late, but we did the same thing as with Radiator–we rented a house in the Poconos with our friend Heather [Jones] recording so that we could really drop in with each other and relax into the creative process.”
DeGroot explains.
Since the release of Radiator, Sadurn had toured heavily and their development as a live unit was now paying off in the studio: DeGroot’s songwriting had become tailored to a full band, the pedal steel that was a highlight of their live show was now lending itself to the recordings, and the band had a well-earned, expressive cohesion in their playing. The sessions were fruitful and Sadurn planned to finish recording vocals in a future session, but then issues with DeGroot’s voice cropped up again.
