Today I’m excited to introduce everyone to experimental indie band, Salamander, and their latest single called “The Label.” Their debut LP, [Container], will be released later on this month and this third single from the set showcases an artist willing to take calculated risks on a distorted shoegaze track that expands upon the possibilities of the band. Band member Leo Frampton shared:
I woke up one morning with the melody to the label in my head, and immediately made a guitar demo on my computer. PJ’s ableton beat on this really gives me chills. I have a verse about loneliness and alienation, PJ later sings about surviving the apocalypse, and in an emotional ending, we bring it all together. ‘the label’ is what people see from the outside, it is what they choose to look at or away from.
I was also able to catch up with this band for a brief interview below.
How would you best describe “the label” in relation to the other tracks on your forthcoming LP? What is the characterization that sets it apart?
Leo: The label incorporates a lot of the album’s subject matter. It contrasts a need for human connection with nature, social paranoia, technology, and a fear of global destruction. Unlike many of the other tracks, PJ and I take turns singing lead and, although there is much repetition (it is definitely a pop song), there is no distinct chorus. I love it, the beat goes hard.
PJ: I wanted to explore the meaning of spectacle, survivalist media, and social change via technology in my verse and how that factors into Leo’s opening verse about human connection. This is the track (beat) I probably had the most fun producing on Ableton and we got to add an extra layer of embellishment in the studio with Carlos Hernandez. I don’t know how it fits in with the other tracks. I think it kind of stands out actually because of how much the electronic component conjures a mood of pop-nostalgia and compressed introspection. The main vocal hook that Leo found in a dream really enabled us to deliver a spread of feeling in repetition.
With [container] being this project’s debut LP and noting the weight of a first full-length, what were the main ideas, sounds, and intentions you used as a guide while creating it?
PJ: We intended to write a “copypasta” of gargantuan proportions in order to critique consumerism in the digital age but ended up with [container] instead. We didn’t try to adhere to any stylistic continuity, but we now hear threads in the music that tie the songs together like lyrics concerning luck and authenticity, weather and fate, and the flow of experience. We just wanted to make things that sounded good and felt like unique combinations of our musical consciousness. Generally, we decided to move in the direction of pop-forms, whatever that means.
Leo: The making of this album was all about momentum. We wanted the album to be ready to go before we were tired of it. We started recording in September of 2022 and worked on it every single month until we got the final masters in May. As far as sounds that inspired us, part of the excitement of this project is being inspired by other band members ideas and working off of them. We encouraged each other to continually be excited about what we were working on and to add a special element to each song to make it feel complete. There was no point where this album got mired or stuck in the mud, and now we’re already working on the next one.
What can fans expect from Salamander, generally? What is the most important thing you want listeners to know, aside from what they can deduce from your music?
PJ: You can expect to fall in love, to fall into language then out of it, to fall into a line that weaves across space and time, loops and zigzags and returns to the place of tomorrow. You can expect to expect. You can be what you want to be if and only if you have the patience to feel cosmic inflation in your heart. You can buy a Tesla, a Coca-Cola, a Starbucks latte, an iPad, an Indulgence, a College Degree, a President, but you can never buy the fundamental change that compels all existence to blossom in perpetuity. The most important thing is to be nice and not let anxiety control you.
Leo: I’d like them to know that if they find something about the music that they enjoy, it automatically means I like them at least a little bit. We do it for you, whoever you are. We promise the music will never be boring to us at least. If you, listener, have any further questions, please refer back to PJ’s answer to this question.