Introducing: Salted
It’s been a spell since we last heard from local experimental artist Pawlic (aka Jesse Pollock) and it turns out there is a reason for that: he hasn’t been around. Yes, Pollock has of late removed himself to that arts mecca down south, Austin Texas. And he’s found a new project and some new bandmates. Salted is the name of the new band, and Kaya Sumer (bass, vox) and Sebastian Turner (drums, vox) are the mates. Salted plays a highly reverbed, extremely loud blend of eclectic krautrock and new wave noise that gives off a dark, somewhat subterranean vibe. And I say “subterranean” because when Pollock sings he sounds a bit like some great, bearded monster who has just crawled out of the underworld to hold court. Sumer and Turner join in as well turning the whole thing into a sort of chorus of growls. On the band’s debut tape Womb Pollock’s wiggy guitar distortion and occasionally atonal notes add psychedelic shades of color to each track, though often it’s Sumer’s pounding bass lines that give the songs their shape. Turner’s drumming also matches the tone: technically efficient yet with a wildness that borders on unrestraint. You can check out the band’s tunes for yourself over at their bandcamp page (or listen below), or pick up the Womb cassette via Spacelung/Landbreathing. And perhaps before long we’ll get Pollock and company back in Minnesota for a local show.
— Jon Behm
