SAID SARA: Acephalix/Depressor Drummer David Benson’s Acoustic Solo Project Releases Eponymous Debut EP; Proceeds To Benefit Campaign Zero Organization

22nd July 2020 Rob Cella 645 Views

Stream SAID SARA’s EP HERE.

SAID SARA is the newly unveiled solo venture of San Francisco, California singer-songwriter David C. Benson (Acephalix, Depressor). The outfit presents its eponymous maiden release, through which the artist is donating its proceeds to benefit Campaign Zero through the end of July.

Under the epithet SAID SARA, David Benson has divulged his solo/acoustic project. While the shelter-in-place decree compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic may have allowed time for the completion of the brand new self-titled debut EP, it has been thirty years in the making.

As the drummer of crusty death metal warhorse Acephalix and ascetic industrial-death automaton Depressor, so SAID SARA may seem like a withdrawal for Benson. The channel through this seemingly vast sonic desert was Transition., with which he spent fourteen or more years as guitarist/vocalist-turned vocalist. This genre-obscuring clique’s sole album, 1994’s Spine, was released on Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn’s ultra-legendary SST Records.

While SAID SARA‘s sound may have more in common with Neil Young than Nailbomb, its lyrical tropes are largely of the ill-lit: irreparable loss, toxic arrogance, debilitating anxiety. This alloy of bright and blight is inherent in the six songs on the EP, three of which were written in the early-1990s. The other three, written this spring during breaks in compulsory “distance learning” (Benson is a high school Special Ed teacher), coursed forth as if no years had been lost in between.

The EP was self-recorded in the Spring of 2020 except the closing track “The Thing” which was recorded on April 13, 1991 by Corbin Armanini and Benson on 4-track cassette.

Listen to SAID SARA’s debut EP RIGHT HERE.

The Said Sara EP was released in recent weeks independently via Bandcamp. Benson is channeling all proceeds from the name-your-price release through the end of July to benefit Campaign Zero, an organization that seeks to end police violence in the United States. Pick it up and help the cause HERE.