Ken Susi
The only time guitarist Sarah Longfield ever painted her face was to pose for the striking cover of Disparity — her ambitious album released to critical acclaim in late 2018. The close-up image depicting a wild swirl of colors emanating from Longfield’s wide, piercing eyes is just as captivating as the music inside the sleeve.
“I’m not the most extroverted person, and I don’t like the visual aspect of being a musician,” Longfield, 26, says from a hotel room in Philadelphia, where she’s recording drums for a musician friend. “Getting ready for that photo was too much work. I can hardly put makeup on.”
It paid to step out of her comfort zone, though, as it helped garner attention for an album on which the Madison native performed, recorded, produced and mixed all nine tracks. The songs fall somewhere between the vocal atmospherics of Kate Bush and the complex instrumental prowess of Animals As Leaders. Guitar World magazine hailed Longfield as “one of the world’s greatest seven- and eight-string guitarists.”
Ironically, Longfield wrote and recorded Disparity with six-string guitars, albeit while on a provocative mission to blur the lines between melody and shred.
Live, Longfield fronts a guitar-guitar-drums trio, and she will co-headline a show with 16-string guitarist Felix Martin at the Red Zone on May 12. “You don’t really appreciate Madison until you’ve seen other places,” she says. “I want to include Madison on my touring schedule as much as possible.”
She may not have as much control over that, now that she’s signed to Season of Mist — a large record label with offices in the United States and France that is home to such revered rock and metal artists as Cynic, Crippled Black Phoenix, and former Pantera frontman Philip H. Anselmo.
Season of Mist released Disparity and has big plans for Longfield, including a forthcoming reissue campaign. Still, she isn’t letting success go to her head. “I don’t feel like a professional musician yet,” she says. “I’m just doing my thing.”
Since about age 13, Longfield’s “thing” has been the seven-string guitar, although she previously played the piano, violin, flute, sitar, drums and cello. And she almost quit the six-string guitar after her instructor taught her to play the blues.
Then she heard heavy metal riffs and discovered the creative freedom of playing metal guitar. She soaked up the music of Metallica, Slayer and Meshuggah, released albums independently, and played local clubs like The Frequency and the Dragonfly Lounge while also touring the world and appearing at festivals as diverse as UK Tech-Fest and SXSW.
For Disparity, Longfield expanded her sound far beyond metal, and the record’s diversity is part of its appeal.
In Madison, Longfield also has worked a variety of odd jobs, including line cook, delivery driver and craft store clerk. But she’s been a full-time DIY musician for the past two years, thanks to album sales, touring, ads on her YouTube channel and her Patreon supporters.
“I hang out at the merch booth all the time,” she says. “They’re not just buying my music,” she adds, referring to her fans. “They’re investing in me as a person.”
