When Seaside Tryst‘s new wave road trip anthem “Saddle Up” first hit my ears, I was immediately filled with regret that I’d been sleeping on their album Different Places for months, and with gratitude to Mia’s brilliant curation for at last bringing them into my world. The intro leaves you happily intrigued but unsure for a few seconds; where is this going, this minimalist keyboard, electronic beat, and strange, sampled (or sung?) sound? But then that descending keyboard hook comes in and your head starts nodding and you’re maybe hitting pause so you can run out to your vehicle or conveyance of choice and hit the road, blasting “Saddle Up” with the wind (or heat, or a/c, depending on where/when you are) in your hair or on your scalp. Now that I’ve stopped playing “Saddle Up” on repeat I’m listening to the full album, and it’s a fantastic collection of subtle, catchy synth-pop. Pick it up now – or in person from the band at the Ball of Wax 70 show on February 2 at Southgate Roller Rink. (Holy shit it will be SO MUCH FUN to roller skate to this band!)
It just dawned on me how very appropriate this song is for our collection of music by trans and nonbinary artists, benefiting the work of Rainbow Railroad to get LGBTQ+ people around the world to safety. According to the band, this song “posits that a life worth fighting for sometimes means getting the hell out of dodge.” We can certainly all relate to this sentiment, but perhaps none more so than queer and trans folks, whose ability to live their life to its fullest can be so starkly contingent on geography, both globally and within our own country. It’s my sincere, somewhat selfish, hope that Seaside Tryst never feels the need to saddle up and ride out of Seattle, but wherever they go I hope they keep making music.