A few years ago, I was on a major binge of the bands Chon and Polyphia. In my deep love for these instrumental mathy bands, I found myself wanting more and more iterations. I stumbled upon the band SAWCE, who only had their self-titled EP out at the time. The band had a fleshed-out, expansive sound even at their humble beginning, with standout tracks like “School” and “Comfort”, featuring Max Mobarry of Others by No One.

The time has finally come for more SAWCE-y goodness with their most recent song “Vita (featuring Kubbi).” From the very start, the layers of talent are apparent, with a very busy arrangement from the early goings. As the song progresses, Kubbi’s chiptune take the spotlight, with two separate guitar riffs underneath it. I would typically find this to be an overload of instrumentation, but each moving part complements the other, so as not to distract from the ears.

With a long-winded guitar solo and an outro shift in meter that throws the listener off, this makes for one of SAWCE’s best tracks yet. Amassing a sound deriving from prog, math rock, and even nintendo-core, “Vita” is a treat to any fan of these genres and beyond. I also have to give credit to the pixel art in the cover for the track, done by Rachelle Viola. Pixel art goes hand-in-hand with chiptune, so this was a smart choice by SAWCE to do.

SAWCE has been no stranger to collaborations, and this is truly their most inventive yet. They joke in the description of their YouTube video: “Sonic the Hedgehog please use our music in your game thanks.” Hey, anything is possible, considering Sonic Mania was basically an indie effort. For the time being, though, SAWCE has a bright future and a backlog that is already fun to go through, so give them a listen today, starting with “Vita!”

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