the Salt Collective - Last Day That We’re Young [EP]
The international supergroup the Salt Collective returns with a six-song EP of fresh recordings. The groundwork for the new EP actually dates back to 2000, when Collective leader, Stéphane Schück, first met the late Scott Miller (Game Theory / Loud Family) in San Francisco, seeding the inspiration for the project.
The multifaceted Paris- and North Carolina-based ensemble kicks off the EP with the single “Last Day That We’re Young,” a recently completed, anthemic version of a beloved Game Theory song tracked initially in 2005 with Miller himself on guitar.
When asked about how this recording came to be, Schück explains:
“We have to go back to December 31, 1989. The last day of the 80s. My friends and I had an important question to answer: What song were we going to leave the 80s with? We’d entered the decade at the age of 12 and were going to leave it at 22. This question consumed us for 6 months . . . until we all agreed it would be “Last Day That We’re Young” by Game Theory. We launched the track at 11:58 p.m. and went into the 90s with Scott!
In 2005, when Scott came to France to produce one of my albums, I told him this story, which made him smile. I think it was quite an unexpected revelation. I couldn’t resist asking him if we could play “Last Day That We’re Young” together. Scott knew how important that song was to me. . . . We [hit record] and he played these two wonderful riffs.”
Also featured on the EP is “Try the Lost and Found,” a collaboration and co-write with Mitch Easter (Let’s Active)—his first release in nearly two decades—recorded during recent sessions at Easter’s renowned Fidelitorium studios in Kernersville, NC for a forthcoming full Salt Collective album, A Brief History of Blindness, due in the fall.
The EP also includes several fun covers captured during those same sessions. “I Want to Tell You,” a George Harrison song from the Beatles’ Revolver, is fronted here by guest Chris Price, with lilting harmonies from pop sensations the Lemon Twigs. Guitarist Kimberley Rew (the Soft Boys, Katrina and the Waves) joins in on two dB’s-related songs: “Clever,” sung by project producer Chris Stamey, is an unreleased song originally written for the dB’s Falling Off the Sky album; and “Little Hands,” a Peter Holsapplecomposition previously heard as a demo on the dB’s Ride the Wild TomTom, is given new life by rising artist Rachel Kiel. The collection is rounded out by “Memphis Stew,” a Southern-tinged instrumental born from a late-night jam.
The EP features contributions from both the French and US members of the Collective. Fred Quentin (bass) and Benoît Lautridou(drums) drive the rhythm on the opening track, joined by guitars from Schück and Miller, lead vocals by French artist Robert Stahl, and harmonies by collective vocalist Lynn Blakey (Let’s Active, Tres Chicas). The other tracks all feature performances by US-based Easter, Schück, and Stamey on guitars; Gene Holder on bass; Rob Ladd on drums; and Wes Lachot on keys—all newly recorded at the Fidelitorium. Stamey mixed at Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, NC).
Look for A Brief History of Blindness—featuring contributions from Matthew Caws, Aimee Mann, Jason Falkner, Andy Partridge, Mike Mills, and more—arriving this fall.