Biography
The Salt Collective took shape as a wide-ranging pop venture featuring numerous revered figures and acclaimed artists, having grown out of the earlier group SALT that originated as a tribute to the late Scott Miller. Delivering intelligent, compelling, and robust tracks packed with inventive melodic turns, the project brought together three French musicians alongside a lineup of American players whose résumés include work with Nada Surf, Wilco, Television, the dB's, and others, resulting in the ensemble's first recording, the 2023 album Life.
Origins trace to 2013 and the passing of Scott Miller, frontman of the exploratory pop outfits Game Theory and the Loud Family. At that point Miller had already begun composing and demoing songs intended for a fresh Game Theory release, prompting his wife Kristine Chambers along with several of his friends and associates to initiate sessions aimed at preserving the material. During 2016 tracking for the project that became Supercalifragile, Ken Stringfellow, previously of the Posies and a contributor to two Loud Family albums, met Anton Barbeau, who had previously recorded the Loud Family album What If It Works with Miller. The pair worked with the three French musicians Stéphane Schück, who had co-written material with Miller, Fred Quentin, and Benoit Lautridou. Enjoying the collaboration, the musicians formed the group SALT and completed the album The Loneliness of Clouds, issued in 2019. Although Stringfellow and Barbeau later stepped away, Schück, Quentin, and Lautridou chose to proceed, shifting the project's framework for a follow-up by expanding the core trio to include several admired American musicians. Chris Stamey of the dB's was enlisted to produce and organize the sessions, which took place at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium in Kernersville, Stamey's Modern Recording in Chapel Hill, and Ferber Studios in Paris. Participants included Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, Richard Lloyd of Television, Juliana Hatfield, Matthew Sweet, Pat Sansone of Wilco, Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills and the Continental Drifters, and former dB's members Peter Holsapple, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby, while Anton Barbeau returned as a guest on the track "A Piece of Candy." Issued in May 2023 on Propeller Sound Recordings, the label established by former R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt, the completed work appeared under the name Salt Collective.
Origins trace to 2013 and the passing of Scott Miller, frontman of the exploratory pop outfits Game Theory and the Loud Family. At that point Miller had already begun composing and demoing songs intended for a fresh Game Theory release, prompting his wife Kristine Chambers along with several of his friends and associates to initiate sessions aimed at preserving the material. During 2016 tracking for the project that became Supercalifragile, Ken Stringfellow, previously of the Posies and a contributor to two Loud Family albums, met Anton Barbeau, who had previously recorded the Loud Family album What If It Works with Miller. The pair worked with the three French musicians Stéphane Schück, who had co-written material with Miller, Fred Quentin, and Benoit Lautridou. Enjoying the collaboration, the musicians formed the group SALT and completed the album The Loneliness of Clouds, issued in 2019. Although Stringfellow and Barbeau later stepped away, Schück, Quentin, and Lautridou chose to proceed, shifting the project's framework for a follow-up by expanding the core trio to include several admired American musicians. Chris Stamey of the dB's was enlisted to produce and organize the sessions, which took place at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium in Kernersville, Stamey's Modern Recording in Chapel Hill, and Ferber Studios in Paris. Participants included Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, Richard Lloyd of Television, Juliana Hatfield, Matthew Sweet, Pat Sansone of Wilco, Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills and the Continental Drifters, and former dB's members Peter Holsapple, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby, while Anton Barbeau returned as a guest on the track "A Piece of Candy." Issued in May 2023 on Propeller Sound Recordings, the label established by former R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt, the completed work appeared under the name Salt Collective.
Albums
Singles
