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Doctor Sax Premieres “Sille” Video; Ellis EP out Feb. 11

Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 1st, 2019 by JJ Koczan

doctor sax

So, it would seem Txus Dr. Sax, aka Doctor Sax, aka the vocalist of Arenna, is a big reader. Awesome. The world could probably use a couple more of them. Across three full-lengths under the moniker of Dr. Sax (or with “Doctor” spelled out; either seems cool), the good doctor has explored a world of literature from William S. Burroughs and Charles Baudelaire to Roberto Bolaño and, Rimbaud and Aldus Huxley. I might recommend he hit up some Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood and Kurt Vonnegut, but beyond that, it’s hard to argue with the canon. It becomes particularly relevant to his new EP, Ellis, because up to now, all of his songs have been titled for authors’ last names: “Poe,” and “Wilde,” and “Arbulú” and so on. Ellis, which is the first Doctor Sax EP, would seem to depart from that approach.

That’s not a small change after three records, but unless “Sille” and its companion “Llise” — bothdoctor sax ellis anagrams of the EP’s title — are figures in literature I’ve never heard of, which is certainly possible, the EP looks to be Doctor Sax branching in a new direction. That notion further manifests in the arrangement of “Sille” itself, as Doctor Sax — who works with producers Koldo and Jabolo Sagastume as he did for 2016’s Vol. III —  explores a marked depth of arrangement involving cello and viola, percussion, harmonica and sundry effects around the foundation of acoustic guitar and vocals, taking the folk-style approach he’s brought to past material and expanding it outward in terms of atmosphere across the nearly-nine-minute song. “Llise,” at just under seven minutes, is somewhat more grounded and solo-feeling, but even that turns to looped guitar to develop a musical conversation with itself, its largely instrumental progression building as it moves forward to some vocals and tambourine late in the track.

In the video for “Sille” below, you can see Doctor Sax himself recording that part. It ends in laughter, which is fair enough. The whole clip seems to have been shot as the “Sille” and “Llise” were put together in the studio, and it captures the spirit of creativity at the heart of the material. It’s hard to gauge ultimately whether Ellis represents a new modus for Doctor Sax overall or is a kind of experimentalist one-off left-turn — the answer may indeed be at your local library — but there’s no denying the soul put into “Sille” and watching it unfold in the studio setting in the video below, the joy of its making is palpable.

Ellis is out Feb. 11 on Spinda Records, Cosmic Tentacles and Olarizu Records.

Hope you dig it:

Doctor Sax, “Sille” official video premiere

The EP is the fourth album by Arenna’s singer Doctor Sax:
‘Mantras Of The Rainy Night” (2012)
‘Vol. II’ (2014)
‘Vol. III’ (2016)
‘Ellis’ (2019)
Release date: 11th February 2019 (Spinda Records, Cosmic Tentacles and Olarizu Records)
Pre-order now available at https://drsax.bandcamp.com

Doctor Sax is:
Doctor Sax: Vocals and guitar
Guille: Percussion
Imanol Mtz. Hervias: Viola
David Sagastume: Cello and handclaps
Koldo Sagastume: Handclaps

Dr. Sax on Bandcamp

Cosmic Tentacles on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

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