Sadie and the stark

Chicago-based indie band Sadie and the Stark’s namesake, Sadie Rogers, and filmmakers Eon Mora (who often collaborates with Joe Swanberg) and Stephen Cone (Henry Gambell’s Birthday Party) joined forces to bring Sadie’s self-directing debut to life. This video for song “Two Reasons” is a “low-fi analogue witch romp shot next to an ominous Lake Michigan.” Sadie’s very gaze draws you in and refuses to let you go – and you won’t want to look away.

For what it’s worth, I’m actually in love with their poetry in the lyrics of “Two Reasons.” Here’s a little excerpt from a verse:

“I’ve got everybody waiting.
I’ve got so many reasons to pray.
But my hands are busy crying
And my soul’s been torn away.”

My hands are busy crying. It packs a punch – how can a phrase so simple connote so much emotion and action all at once?

Sadie and the Stark’s idiosyncratic sound is loosely inspired by hardcore sci-fi/fantasy, with their gritty, grungy lyrics and capricious outlook. Having been compared to PJ Harvey and the Kills in the past, Sadie and the Stark has a deservedly confident stride in their music. - Impose Magazine

"Witches"-the first song on a five-track debut EP by local band Sadie and the Stark is an intriguing introduction to the band's aesthetics. Lead singer/guitarist Sadie Rogers' strong and confident vocal style (not unlike Garbage's Shirley Manson) is the centerpiece, as she sings about the thrill of desire, with an underbelly of danger. "I want to taste you" and "You are going to answer for the killing/You are going to get on your knees." "Apocalypse," with an more seductive and slower tempo furthers this theme, with Sadie urging multiple times, "Come on boy, do what you do to me." A three piece band ably lays down the backing rhythms behind her vocals. "Two Reasons" is a theatrically delivered breakup ballad with a twinge of country acoustics, and, showing instrumental range, "Black Hearted Lover" uses wide open, distorted guitar chords and rapid snare shots, along with Rogers' powerful yodels, to tell one more rocking story of ill-fated lovers. -Jason Scales - Illinois Entertainer