Cult screamo outfit Saetia are kicking off 2025 with their first new tune since the Nineties. This morning (January 3rd), the reunited unit revealed the title track from their forthcoming three-track EP, Tendrils.
While Saetia reformed in 2022, “Tendrils” marks the first new music from the band since they originally broke up in 1999. Up front, the track ping-pongs through bright-and-kinda-dirty emo guitar stereophonics, above which vocalist Billy Werner delivers some impassioned screaming seemingly about cyclical familial patterns (“I’ve become you despite a better effort”). The song ramps up towards a chaotic, octave-driven crescendo before winding down with bass-rippling melancholia.
“Back in December of 2023 Colin [Bartoldus] shared an idea that he wrote on bass,” the band explained over Instagram of the genesis of “Tendrils.” “We weren’t really serious about working on new music up until that point, but the five of us slowly started building on that original idea. Through lots of file sharing, trips to Philly and different rehearsal spaces around the United States over the past year, we were able to write and record these three songs.”
You can check out “Tendrils” in the player above, while the other two tracks will be released online in February and March, respectively.
Saetia will likewise release a three-song 12-inch independently this April. The one-sided record, which will be on black vinyl, is being pressed up in a run of 1,000 copies, with the band currently unclear if a second pressing will be made. You can pre-order the record over here.
Tendrils tracklisting:
Tendrils
Three Faces Past
Corkscrew Spine