SAULT is the anonymous London collective formed in 2019 around producer Inflo and vocalist Cleo Sol, releasing a torrent of soul, funk, and gospel-rooted records on their own Forever Living Originals label. Untitled (Black Is) (2020) won the Mercury Prize and is the essential starting point. Browse SAULT vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
SAULT formed in London in 2019 as a anonymous collective centered around producer Inflo (Dean Wynton Josiah Cover, also producer for Michael Kiwanuka, Cleo Sol, Little Simz, and others) and vocalist Cleo Sol (Cleopatra Nikolic, also a solo artist on Forever Living Originals). The collective has rotating contributions from Kid Sister, Jack Peñate, Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz, and many other unnamed musicians. They have remained anonymous as a project - never releasing official member identifications until post-hoc industry recognition (Inflo's Producer of the Year Brit Award 2022 identified him publicly), never giving interviews, and never performing live until a single unannounced 2024 London show. Their 2019-2025 catalog of 14+ albums has been influential in establishing the foundational template for contemporary Black music collective work, with integration of soul, funk, gospel, hip hop, electronic, and broader contemporary Black music traditions. Untitled (Black Is) (2020) was released free for download on Bandcamp on Juneteenth 2020 in response to the George Floyd murder and broader Black Lives Matter movement; it won the British Mercury Prize in 2021 (though SAULT refused to attend the ceremony). Their foundational influence on contemporary Black music collective and anonymous music release approaches is widely cited.
SAULT's sound combines contemporary R&B, neo-soul, soul, funk, gospel, hip hop, electronic, post-punk, and Afrobeat with multiple distinct vocalist arrangements (Cleo Sol lead and guest vocalists), Inflo's signature multi-decade-spanning production approach (integration of contemporary and classic Black music traditions), and lyrical content addressing Black history, race, identity, spirituality, and broader contemporary social commentary drawing on Black liberation and gospel traditions.
Forever Living Originals pressings of the SAULT catalog have been issued in elaborate color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings, with collector demand. vinyl release scarcity has been a collector dimension across the catalog.
Listeners new to SAULT typically start with Untitled (Black Is) (2020) or Nine (2021).
