Salt Year

Introspective, mellow folk-rock. Don’t play if you’re looking for something energetic, but this would work very well with a more chill or folk-influenced show. The instruments here are spare, to showcase Bathgate’s deep, whiskey-country voice. Doesn’t remind me of anyone, which is partly probably because I don’t really listen to folk but also b/c this is an original sound. No FCCs. Recommended 3, 7, 8, 10, 11 (esp. 3, 7, 10).

1. 4:51: downtempo, very folksy, diverse mix of instruments, inc. piano
2. 2:53: relaxed, interesting percussion, rather catchy
3*. 4:04: spare—just vocals and guitar for much of the song; lyrics = v. poetic, pretty
4. 2:34: kinda boring…
5. 4:20: melancholy, with a cool horn section in the middle
6. 3:44: repetitive
7*. 2:44: pretty cool guitar intro. Feels like everyone’s swaying as they wave their phones at a concert. But then picks up, turns into one of his more uptempo songs.
8*. 3:10: a good deal of a cappella here, which makes it really cool when the instruments come back in.
9. 4:39: really melancholy and downtempo
10*. 2:44: more uptempo and more instrumentals than on his other tracks. Great vocals: emotional and intense when the instruments pick up, but relaxed otherwise.
11*. 6:15: soothing, calm, with awesome horn section.