Saturn, Alexander has quickly become one of my favorite indie artists in the few short months that I’ve known her as a person, a fellow nerd, and an artist. She’s talented, has an ear for beats, and her eye for detail–and anime–is also impressive. With that said, her new “Toonami-style bump-based compilation of songs” has a dual importance.

Ever the astrologically-inclined individual, Saturn sought out to show case eleven different signs and their placements for her first project in two years. Signs simultaneously offers up a look into each sign placement while allowing multiple voices to add their piece and peace to the tracks. From needing love to needing sex to not wanting to be bothered, the eleven tracks show the positives (and possible negatives) while also being playful enough to say “hey I still love y’all, regardless of where your sign lies.” Ironically enough, because of a dislike of how it ended up, Saturn left out the Gemini placement track. Signs also, on a more somber-yet-still-celebratory note, serves as a birthday gift to her late friend, a young woman named Kemji.
Released on Tuesday, Signs shows Saturn at her strongest, firing off bars and barbs like only she can. As I’ve made mention, if you like Noname, you’ll like Saturn, Alexander. That’s a bit of a simplification, but also a high form of praise. Both artists have a jazzy, spoken-word approach to their music that’s free-flowing and beautiful, lyrical but soft and gentle, brash yet still friendly and welcoming. Simply put, regardless your sign, there’s something for you here to enjoy.
As a fellow whose Sun is in Leo with his Moon in Libra, I think I’ll start taking my astrological placement a bit more seriously. Since listening to this project–and doing more research about my placement–I feel like it matches pretty well. Check out Signs above and remember to support dope music in all its forms. Happy sign discovery!