From revitalising the rave scene to Shakespearean Compositions: Soulful Salo talks us through her drum & bass fuelled story to Manchester’s Royal Exchange and beyond!
Songwriter Portrait: SALO
With her roots in soul/jazz piano, Salo brings a breath of fresh air to the Manchester bass music scene while expanding her repertoire to include theatre compositions. Armed with big ideas and ambitions, she shares her captivating and inspiring story with us from her beginnings in Georgia, to the versatile and multifaceted singer-songwriter she is today.
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Salo moved to the UK very young – she was just 1 when she moved to Glasgow as an asylum seeker. She’s experimented and adapted her musical style a fair bit since then to bless us with a truly eclectic catalogue of music. But one thing she has managed to retain unchanged throughout her entire musical journey is soul – and nothing shows this better than her latest single Northdown.
From her scholarship at a music academy in Glasgow, Salo moved to Manchester at age 9 and got most of her classical training at RNCM. And by her teenage years she was seduced by the city’s vibrant rave scene.
“It wasn’t until I moved to Manchester and got to about 16/17 that I discovered electronic music and wanted to go down that route more, as I was in college and chilling with people that would go raving! Although from the age of 15/16 I’ve also really loved jazz/blues and soul, and wanted to make music like this.”
She wrote her very first song on the piano to express the strong emotions she was feeling during her parents splitting up, then discovering songwriting as a good emotional outlet. She also realised that she could actually express herself better sometimes through piano compositions rather than writing lyrics – making it no surprise then that Nina Simone is her biggest influence and inspiration for her music.
“The first time I actually ever wrote any piece of music was when I was 13, it was quite an emotional one as my parents had split up and I was kinda going through it. Some things I don’t want to write lyrics for so I write a piano piece instead. It’s easier for me to do that than to put certain things into words.”
Being a strong admirer of jazz, soul and blues, Salo is also inspired by Billie Holiday, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Amy Winehouse, and Otis Reading.
“My biggest influence is Nina Simone as well as being my biggest inspiration for my music. Her voice, her words and the way she would play piano is just insane, and I hope to one day be half as good as her.”
She is definitely not far off Nina, Salo’s classical talents and love of soul/jazz married with modern drum and bass has culminated in some of the coolest, smoothest, and downright talented electronic music coming out of the UK nowadays.
Released January 2022, I Don’t Care with Chimpo on production is nothing short of beautiful. Then came Daydreaming with L-Side later that year, a deep and soulful epitome of drum and bass – her vocals on this one deserve a Grammy (or perhaps Drum and Bass Arena) award all of their own!
Salo’s music is like a passionate romantic love triangle between sixties Nina, noughties Amy, and the entire modern day drum and bass scene. If Northdown doesn’t make you wince (in a good way) and sway your shoulders passionately from side to side to the hypnotic beat, her engrossing voice, and mesmerising organ style chords…you need to get your head checked. It is an absolute groovy banger of a tune!
“Northdown was the first soul tune I’d ever written. I wrote it first on piano, and Chimpo was like, send that to me right now. He put drums over it, and then Dub Phizix beefed the tune up to what it is today!”
The song is about her experience living at Northdown Avenue in the Bloc2Bloc [well-known local recording studios] residence – a time and place she obviously holds close to her heart, with everyone there at the time helping her get out of a horrible relationship.
Talking shit in the evening
Sweeping up mess from yesterday
“This is my favourite lyric from Northdown…It just gives me such a strong memory of when me and my mates would be up in the kitchen just chatting, whether it be after a rave or just when people would come round. I was feeling shit, and I’d be in the living room or kitchen in my PJs, and having that circle of friends would instantly make me feel so much better.”
She also reveals that ‘Sweeping up mess from yesterday’ was a reference to always hearing Jack Banner – Bloc2Bloc’s manager – sweeping up the mess in the studios from her room. “Definitely HAD to mention that in my song. Everyone at Bloc knows what I’m on about when I sing that.“
Salo tells us how her songwriting process changes day to day, usually starting with the beat first, then playing around on the keys to conjure out the lyrics from deep inside her. She just goes with the flow, which although in her words “can be a bit all over the place”, is certainly a recipe for the most soulful of sounds.
Even clearly talented artists like Salo can feel insecure, lose confidence, and doubt what they make though. In an attempt to make us see past the highlight reels on social media, she shared with us the deep feelings of self-doubt she sometimes feels.
“The biggest challenge I’ve faced so far is just actually an ongoing struggle of are my tunes good enough? Is it worth doing this? There was a day where I’d come back from being out, listened to every piece of music I’d made and thought ‘This is so embarrassing that I’ve shown people any of this! It’s absolute shit’.”
She then reminds us of the important part of this realisation – that regardless of insecurity you should always make art for the love of making art, and not care too much about what other people might think.
“If no one likes what I make I should just not really give a fuck, I have a buzz doing it anyway. Sometimes I feel my journey is going a bit slow and I get worried that I’m not good enough, but how I deal with it is just reminding myself I should just make tunes to make tunes.”
Unpacking this further she explains that the benefits of being an independent artist are writing what she wants to write, without having to make songs for other people. To her this concept is the essence of songwriting.
“The main benefit is just that I can do absolutely whatever I want when I want, and write about anything I want. Yeah I guess having songwriters with you makes your song stronger in ways but then it just feels like it’s not mine anymore. I write what I’m feeling and the emotions about a particular event. That gets lost when other people get involved.”
Of course independence comes with its many challenges, as she cites generating as well as managing her own budget as a big downside.
Despite independent challenges and moments of insecurity, Salo has certainly had one hell of a journey since arriving in Manchester many years ago – breathing new life into its rave scene with her unique unignorable talents, and sharing the fruits of her own artistic progress with the community. Nothing is a better example of this than the Shakespeare play she’s composing music for at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre this year.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and i’ll be playing the moon also! So come through for that if you want to see me singing and playing piano! It’s fused with drum and bass which I think is pretty fucking cool hahaha.”
There’s nothing we like more at SoundSight Mag than artists fusing classical approaches with modern art forms to produce something truly unique. We’re also extremely happy that she plans to bestow us with more amazingly soulful music this year, so make sure you’re pro-ordering that.
love Salo’s songs …. great interview – good to hear her expanding on her songwriting