Acts of Faith | |
Type: | studio |
Artist: | Sault |
Cover: | Sault - Acts of Faith.jpg |
Alt: | A photo of a television in a room with the screen showing "Acts of Faith" written over a street scene on it |
Caption: | The download of Acts of Faith was paired with this graphic, which includes a screenshot from the live performance's accompanying video projection |
Label: | Forever Living Originals |
Producer: | Inflo |
Prev Title: | Untitled (God) |
Prev Year: | 2022 |
Acts of Faith is the eleventh studio album from British R&B musical group Sault. Originally previewed in December 2023 at a one-night only concert in London (which was the group's first performance), the album was released for free as a continuous single track via digital distribution on 6 July 2024.
The live debut of Acts of Faith was met with positive reviews from critics and featured the musicians in masks, accompanied by ballet and fashion show performances, with this music accompanied by songs from across their career and a seven-song African Section that led into it. In The Daily Telegraph, Ali Shutler rated the show 5 out of 5 stars, stating that it was "part fashion show, part otherworldly escape, the first chunk of Sault's near-three hour concert began with a handful of the collective's more ethereal numbers as figures marched up and down the main runway". In The Evening Standard, El Hunt also gave this show 5 out of 5 stars, calling it the live event of the year, stating that "calling what unfolded next a plain old 'gig' feels disingenuous; like referring to an all you can eat buffet as a 'light snack', or calling the Sistine Chapel a decent bit of interior design". Stevie Chick of The Guardian gave the show five out of five stars and wrote that "their eclecticism is dazzling but grounded in substance, their anthems aiming at the feet and the heart with equal accuracy" making for an "immersive, eclectic, astonishing three hours".
Upon the album's release, Bill Pearis of BrooklynVegan called this "yet another stunner" from the group that is "a joyous rumination on faith". Writing for Radio New Zealand, Tony Stamp noted the religious themes and uplifting lyrics in the music and responded to the band's mystique by summing up, "everything on record is so substantive, and enriching, that the gimmicks feel justified".
The album version of Acts of Faith was released as a single, continuous .WAV file and several outlets have noted that the music matches the setlist from the live debut: