The Old Salts hail from Toronto and their sound is folk, with a Celtic air, an underbelly of rock and roll, dotted with blues and decorated with flourishes of bluegrass. Their 2014 self-titled album The Old Salts is an eight-track collection with brackish vocals, guitar, banjo, drums, harmonica, bass, and tight harmonies.
An ‘old salt’ is a long-standing naval term for a teller of sea stories, passing on the myths and the traditions from one generation to the next. These stories may be true. They may be based on truth, they may be falsehoods. On the album the story telling carries on this tradition. Each track has its own saga, with a beginning, an end, and something to wonder about.
Within the story telling, war and soldiering is a strong theme. “Pearly Gates” for example starts with a build-up of all the strings, it rocks with train-track rhythm on the drums, and the guitar howls as the train runs away and gives us lyrics like:
I’ve got my war torn brother to my left
And my shell shocked friend to my right
Both fighting men for a dying land
Praying to get home alive
“Warships” may or may not fall into the ‘War’ category; from the lyrics I can’t be sure. All I know is that it works. The pulsing guitar and the drums tell a story all on their own. There is a stormy sea rhythm to the song and the dry gritty vocals carry the mood well.
A slow regular pulse drums in the first beats of “Perfect Man” before tired and emotional smoked out vocals from James de Mota take over. Then the harmonies give it a staid folky feel for a while until Darren Eedens walks up to the song with his banjo and breaks into the cold-eyed stare of getting stuck in. This song catches me, and then it loses me, and then it brings me back. The story stops me moving on, and that banjo makes me bop my head.
“On The Fence” is a Celtic-tinged sing-a-long with a sea shanty feel and my favourite lines in the album:
I’m growing old with fear
I’ve been washed out to sea
Off this rickety pier
It spins another tale and that holds me to the song. I vaguely sing along on my own in the living room. The song deserves more outdoor spectacle than this.
I enjoyed this album. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d seen the band live, at a festival, with the sky bruising and the fire lit. With some booze in my belly and some gay abandon front of stage. Sitting in my living room on the laptop somewhat detracts. The collection of short stories in this album is a Penguin classic. The collection of songs needs audience participation. As an album The Old Salts points out that this is a band to go see.
https://theoldsalts.bandcamp.com/album/the-old-salts
