Start Listening To: Summer Salt
Our interview with Summer Salt gave us some wholesome insights on their relationship with music and community, as well as exploring the sentimentality of vinyl and touring.
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and about the music you make?
Yes! We are Summer Salt, which is original members Matthew Terry (vocals, guitar) and Eugene Chung (vocals, drums, guitar), along with Anthony Barnett who is currently filling in on vocals and guitar as well. We are all originally from the North Texas area and met while in high school. Our music has really come together as a collective of everything that we are interested in or at least that’s what we are trying to do! We want to add elements to our sound composed of everything that inspires us or that we find beautiful or unique. It definitely has tropical elements, pop, some moodier jazz instrumentation, but at the base we would probably say our music is about melody and feeling.
Your music is really gorgeous. How do you achieve your sound?
Whoops, kinda answered that in the above question! But going deeper on that would say that we spend a lot of time going over melody, sitting with melodies and progressions. I (Matt) do a lot of synaesthetic kinda stuff where I like to look at images and see what would be a nice melodic soundtrack and a lot of the time that helps me write, as well as Eugene. I know it’s also very atmospheric in having a nice cozy space to work in.
Congratulations on the new EP! What encouraged you to revisit these tracks and give them a new twist?
A lot of fans were asking for a Little Legs release so, while we were home over the winter in between tours, we thought it would be fun to not just do a single release but to make it into a lil’ project where we could show multiple songs from our past!
What is your creative process like?
Haha I keep answering questions ahead of time! Would say starting with a guitar in the living room, noodling around until we come up with a melody that we like, spending a lot of time with it, connecting other parts, and then once the songs are complete we bring it to the band and start the recording process.
How have you been dealing with not being able to play live this year?
Playing live and touring is a blast and it's always nice to see fans enjoy the shows and have that moment of connection with them, enjoying the music together. It's very special for sure. I would say that’s been tough to step away from for a bit but it's also been nice downtime to write more. Touring is so fast that there is rarely enough time to sit alone and create, which is also a big part of the process for us.
What’s it like being part of the Austin music scene?
Austin is a very lovely city with lots of talented musicians here. It seems that there is a lot of togetherness and harmony here amongst musicians, sharing their craft whether big or small. Everyone seems to have a lot of respect for each other and hold each other to a strong sense of community which is beautiful.
I read that you urge fans to embrace themselves and find some peace in true acceptance. How important is authenticity to you?
I think the older we get it's kind of a message to our younger selves and future selves, just to be real and to be good. I think it’s great to work on yourself but not to be a perfectionist or something you're not. In music it's hard, with things such as keeping in time, being on pitch, following a groove, seeing what your peers are doing and such, but I’ve felt recently that if you hone it too much you lose a little of what makes you so beautifully you. So with these kinds of discoveries it's always nice to share with the fans!
Matthew, congratulations on the baby boy! Really incredible news! How has fatherhood influenced you as an artist?
I wrote a father's day song! Haha, in the spirit of our holiday song saga. By the way, thank you! It has been amazing so far. As an artist it really just inspires me to want to work harder in both realms of being a good dad and a good musician. Can't wait to show him my favourite songs, learn a new instrument together, new dance moves, it's exciting!
What are some of your favourite releases from 2020?
Trace Mountains - Lost In The Country
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Ruru - The Odds (she also has lots of new singles too)
I notice you’ve released this EP on a limited pink pressing. How important is vinyl to you?
Vinyl is our favourite. It’s timeless and I think it's a really wonderful way to archive music and make it very special for fans, making music into lifelong collectibles. It's our first pink vinyl so we're stoked!
Which other musicians do you admire?
I was listening to Flake Music and The Shins when I was working on this; I love James Mercer, I think his writing has a seriousness to it that’s noticeable while also being very openly playful and charming!
Eugene loves Beach House and I know he has taken lots of influence from them, we grew up on them way back from the release of their first LP. Their music is absolutely beautiful! There are so so many but those are our tops! :)
Thank You!
Photo credit to Andrew Reiner
