Video: Sarah Ault, ‘No Man’s Land’

Kevin Bronson on June 26th, 2023

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Sarah Ault writes songs that wear like an old sweater, or one that remains in the back of the closet because it brings back uncomfortable memories. They are equal parts warm keyboards, dusky/soulful vocals and life drama, though the latter is not overplayed. Hers in the voice of experience, a storyteller not a sermonizer.

The dual meaning of Ault’s new EP, “No Man’s Land” (released in April) signals what’s coming over its six songs. She’s seen some things, done some things, felt some things. “I have desires, that’s no question / But I am tired, and I’m grown / There’s sexual, then there’s salvation / I’m coming home,” she confesses on the title track.

The EP, Ault’s first major release since the 2015 album “Hold Fast Open Palm,” was made in part at Northridge’s 606 Studios, home to Foo Fighters, and the drums on “No Man’s Land” are played by none other than Dave Grohl, whom the songwriter befriended through her day job as a hairdresser.

Ault herself directed and starred in the video for the song “No Man’s Land,” which was filmed by John Toll in and around Amboy on Old Route 66 in the Mojave Desert. A pickup truck, a pistol and a pooch named Bernie are involved; Ault channels Susan Sarandon in one scene; and both the vistas and the saga make for a compelling cinematic experience.

||| Watch: The video for “No Man’s Land”