Sadurn - The Underworld

Jones] recording so that we could really drop in with each other and relax into the creative process.” 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.  The band attempted a short tour while waiting to reschedule recording time. “By the end of that week I could hardly talk, let alone sing,” DeGroot says. “That lasted about eight months.” Things had reached a breaking point, and something was telling them that it was time to go. “I started trying a combination of vocal coaching and somatic therapy, and was making progress, but I realized I needed to leave Philly,” DeGroot explains. “I left without really knowing where I was gonna go. I set up some work exchanges and just put the album down. I let go of the idea that I was overdue on the record and set aside the urgency, and I think that released me. I basically lived on the road for a year, and that was when my voice started to heal.” As DeGroot slowly regained their ability to sing, they found some mental clarity along with it. They began cautiously playing intimate solo performances in living rooms and reconnected with performing music. Eventually they returned to Philadelphia to finish recording what would become The Underworld, which was then mixed by Mark Watters at The Headroom (Alex G, Hop Along, Jessica Lea Mayfield). When the album was finally complete DeGroot found themself in a very different place than when it was started. “The record was definitely born out of grief, yearning, inner conflict… I wouldn't want people to think that’s where I am now. But when you write about things, that's your way to move through them. And you can tell it took me a long time to move through them,” they explain. “But that’s maybe the most critical part of it–we circle back to the same lessons in a spiral, as if we never learned them, and we have to make sense and beauty out of that, too.” Throughout The Underworld, the rawness of DeGroot’s lyrics are matched by Cox, Ahnert, and Swain’s evocative playing. Stunning opener “the weight” describes the early stages of a relationship deteriorating, with brilliant soloing from Cox and DeGroot’s warm voice intertwining through its widescreen outro. Highlights like “mess,” “never tell me,” or “whole thing” strike a perfect balance between lush arrangements and intimate performances, while tracks like “why does my heart” or “can’t stop” add unvarnished, single take moments of spontaneity, or GarageBand demo looseness that perfectly compliment the unabashed longing in the songwriting. “After this relationship ended, it felt like a sacred part of myself didn’t belong to me anymore,” DeGroot explains. “Writing these songs helped me reconnect with my spirit and confront the hidden belief that I needed something outside of myself to be safe or good or whole. The same belief was perfectly mirrored in my urgency with the band, so somehow it was also necessary for me to face all these obstacles in finishing the record itself in order to get to the other side of this lesson. I had to be forced to put it down, to learn that I could be okay without the relationship, without knowing if my voice would ever heal, or if the project would ever move forward. It was kind of like an allegory–I needed to learn all that, and then I could go back and finish it.” The result is an album that’s full 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. Perhaps no song captures The Underworld’s musical and lyrical scope better than its closing track “only angels.” The eight minute-long song stretches out methodically, its first half sparse and gentle, just DeGroot’s voice and acoustic guitar, with every strum and syllable sounding deliberately placed and imbued with emotion. Then four minutes in, the bass and drums finally join, followed by fiddle, then vocal harmonies as the song builds in urgency, sprawling out and wrapping around the listener like a realization that can’t be avoided any longer: things have changed for good, and acceptance is the only way forward. “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.” Tracklist: the weight after we went under the bridge never tell me can't stop mess the map why does my heart whole thing only angels Pressing Information: 150 sun transparent (Run For Cover Magic Circle Exclusive) 350 pink transparent (Run For Cover Exclusive) 1000 dark sky (First Run Club Indie Retail Exclusive) 2150 cosmic blue 350 smoke grey (Sadurn exclusive) Release Date: October 16, 2026 Please Note, this item is for PRE-ORDER! All items are expected to ship by OCTOBER 16, 2026. *Any orders containing a "Pre-Order" item will ship together when the pre-order ships. Please make a separate order if you wish to receive non pre-order items before the pre-order ship date.* Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.