Interview: Sargasso – Sacred Plums

“4 young people from 3 cities on 2 continents, all residing in New Haven, Connecticut. We make warm indie music with electronic touches.”

Can you introduce yourselves and tell me how you formed as a band?

Hola! We’re Sargasso—Maria Campos Saadi (bass/vox), Noah Goodman (guitar/vox/synth), Thomas Hagen (drums), and Soledad Tejada (synth/vox/guitar)—a four-piece originally from Rio de Janeiro, New York, and Philadelphia. We met in New Haven, Connecticut at university and have been playing together for about two years now.

I love your new single ‘Sacred Plums’. Can you give us some insight into the story behind the song?

This song was inspired by how we choose to relate to the past. I (Soledad) was thinking about a past relationship, reckoning with the active role I played in remembering it, and the complexity of seeing it as something both valuable and painful. We really leaned into the moodiness of the song, turning it into something dramatic and cathartic.

The artwork is beautiful! Who created it?

Thank you! Soledad made the artwork. It was actually inspired by screenprinting techniques she learned while studying abroad in Spain and was created by editing a photo of a bucket of spices she took while traveling in Morocco.

If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Aphex Twin. We’re all huge fans. We covered his song “Alberto Balsalm” at one of our concerts and everyone besides us was very confused, but we had a lot of fun and at least one audience member was also very excited. Our music sounds nothing like his so a collab could turn out really spicy.

If you could curate a festival, who would the headliners be?

Before COVID hit we were scheduled to open for Japanese Breakfast at a college festival which sadly got cancelled, so they would have to play at our festival. We’ve also been really into Reggie Watts this week, and he’s a big inspiration for our drummer Thomas. We’re trying to channel James Blake on our new album, so we would definitely want him on stage too as long as he brings his dog. Joni Mitchell headlines.