Our Indian Boy (2012)
“His vocal style is simple and straightforward, so much so that it may cause some to overlook the genius within the compositions”
Slow Dakota released his debut LP a few days after Christmas, 2012. The nine-song album was greatly inspired by a failed volunteering trip Sauerteig took to India the previous summer. Many of the lyrics were built out of a diary Sauerteig kept while abroad—songs like June 3 contain some of Slow Dakota's most visceral, painful imagery.
In terms of production, Sauerteig wrote, recorded, and produced the album in his parents' home. (You can hear his mother call out downstairs near the end of June 2). The album features stark instrumentation, relying mostly on amateur recordings of piano, ukulele, and drums. Sauerteig's voice is notably immature on the record - emotive, but nervous and full of mistakes. Sauerteig's sister contributed female vocals (as did a few other Fort Wayne-based vocalists). And for trumpet, Sauerteig reached out to a former teacher, and member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Akira Muratoni. The album was mixed and mastered at Fort Wayne's own Sweetwater Sound.
The album attracted almost no critical attention, and was only formally reviewed once - by Brooklyn's The Wild Honey Pie. The review praised the intentional crudeness of the recordings, and the "genius" of Sauerteig's rugged compositions. You can download the entire album for free, here.