SAULT is a genre-defying R&B musical collective that has shrouded itself in mystery.

With minimal public interaction and limited social media, SAULT’s announcement for the December 2023 show in London continued what has been an experience in feeling music — bringing their enigmatic sound and vision to life in “Acts of Faith,” their first-ever live performance.

An abandoned IKEA on the outskirts of London was transformed into a surreal, immersive venue. A solitary journey that begins in a room with strangers who bring you to a refrigerator beckoning you to walk through. You travel along ironwork corridors that bend and conceal. That served to build visceral anticipation for what was promised a few days before in a black square with white type on instagram.

This labyrinth then opens into a mirrored room with podiums holding each of SAULT’s albums on vinyl in a glass case. The presentation made them feel exquisite and rare — which in many ways is a visual representation of how SAULT’s fans understand their relationship to the music.

The release pattern of SAULT’s music has been unpredictable. Eleven albums over five years. Physical possession is fleeting. Digital is almost gamified. So each moment with SAULT’s music is precious.  Inflo, the band’s enigmatic producer, has led SAULT in delivering a showcase of the group’s versatility across genres and styles, reflecting Black music’s vast legacy through the artistry of those members that remain in secrecy, or at the very least known but appreciated without the specifics.

But prior to this live performance, fans had formed a more personal exploration of SAULT’s music. It transcended needing to know and settled comfortably into acceptance and understanding. There was little to manipulate your personal wavelength to the music. Therefore a recommendation to a friend would come from a deeper place. It was an ask to listen with intention.

In an era of feeding and frequenting the algorithm, SAULT will tease and release. In a society where anonymity can barely exist, SAULT is the unknown known. If you know, you know.

Touring and live performance forms an intense and at times spiritual connection between performer and fan within a unique spatial context to the music.

The act of faith is an apt title and description of this event, as each partner in this relationship — the artist and the audience — had to have faith that both would keep the music as their truth and their trust.

Featuring live orchestral sections, African drumming, and performances by Little Simz, Cleo Sol, Michael Kiwanuka, and Chronixx, “Acts of Faith” was the one and only time that this new music would be performed live. It took the audience on a sonic journey through Afro-futuristic and contemporary R&B landscapes.

Raw space was reimagined to envelop the senses completely, allowing the personal that you brought into that room to expand, and welcoming the community you breathed in as you left.

The experience was innovative in a simple yet profound way. There was relevance to that moment. There was no statement from the artist. Any documentation of the event came courtesy of those who attended.

In an era of feeding and frequenting the algorithm, SAULT will tease and release. In a society where anonymity can barely exist, SAULT is the unknown known. If you know, you know. In an industry that misrepresents abundance as creativity, SAULT is scarcity and deliverance.

SAULT has created a symphony between artistry and audience, it fine-tunes the ranges and plays with the levels. “Acts of Faith” embodied the rhythmic call and response of space, music, community, art, emotion, exploration, and spirit.

With each sporadic music drop, with this one-time-only moment, SAULT seems to be challenging itself to decide whether to give the fans what they want, or to offer them what they need.

To be daring in unexpected ways that eschew models is a signal that change is happening. SAULT is at the front because by defying the limits of music genres and public performance they are also re-defining it to be without limits.

—Diana Williams, founder and CEO of Kinetic Energy Entertainment, on introducing “Acts of Faith” at the 2024 awards presentation

“They’ve built a dedicated fanbase despite having never done an interview, played a live show or properly confirmed who’s even in the group, shunning the spotlight at every turn. That changed earlier this week when they announced a last-minute show at London’s Drumsheds, a converted Ikea that now hosts warehouse raves. Despite tickets for the show costing an eye-watering £99, the event sold out in a matter of minutes. That this debut show was called ‘Acts of Faith’ is perhaps fitting. . . .

“Rumours about what the gig might entail ranged from theories about the entire thing being an elaborate prank, to Sault ringleader Inflo roping in his mate Adele to sing songs on an ice rink. The reality ended up even more bonkers than the internet could have imagined.

“Through a disorientating immersive experience that cycled from dusty factory backroom to futuristic art exhibition via an old fridge, fans eventually found themselves confronted by a 30-ft high stone tablet carved with the phrase ‘practise the art of giving, knowing that I am perfectly imperfect’. Elsewhere, the 15,000 capacity space of Drumsheds’ main room had been taken over by five different stages that would go on to host a full orchestra, a 100-strong choir, a live band and a never-ending stream of dancers. . . .

“Numerous members of Sault and their extended family took to the stage in disguise. Even with a veil though, soul star Cleo Sol’s unmistakable vocals gave her away during the outro for the powerful Time Is Precious, while Inflo’s childhood friend Little Simz also did an awful job of being mysterious, performing a high-energy Fear No Man that was worth the ticket price alone. . . . Breathtakingly ambitious, defiantly unconventional and heaps of fun, Sault twisted what a live show could be while also proving they could dominate the likes of Coachella or Glastonbury in the very near future. Not bad for a first gig.”

—The Telegraph

“Anticipation crackles for tonight’s debut live performance from Sault, the purposefully enigmatic collective centred around producer Dean Josiah Cover, AKA Inflo. Their discography – 11 albums in four years, five arriving in a single data dump a year ago – encompasses the kaleidoscope of Black music history, growing ever more spiritual and exploratory. Exactly which incarnation of Sault will materialise tonight: the sinewy garage-funk unit? The street soul artisans? The composers of diaphanous choral symphonies?

“The answer is: all of them. . . . This immersive, eclectic, astonishing three hours posit Cover and collaborators as time-travellers traversing Afro-legacy and Afro-future, masked visionaries cycling between humility and audacity. It’s enough to suggest there’s absolutely nothing they can’t do.”

—The Guardian