THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vermont native Sam Amidon, who is now based in London, has collaborated with saxophonist and producer Sam Gendel to reinterpret and regenerate 10 songs that he has gathered together as part of a decades-long quest to re-contextualize what it means to sing folk songs or make folk music.
The music on Salt River ranges from traditional Appalachian ballad Golden Willow Tree to a radical reimagining of Lou Reed’s Big Sky, and was recorded by Amidon, Gendel and percussionist Philippe Melanson, who played together as a trio during sessions at Gendel’s home in Los Angeles. Having initially encountered Gendel at his now-fabled residency at the Hollywood Italian restaurant Pace, Amidon and Gendel have collaborated on various recordings and concerts over the past few years, but Salt River is their first extended collaboration, sparked when Amidon suggested they delve into his treasure box of collected songs.
As Sam himself describes, “This album is a campfire, but the campfire is around Sam Gendel’s synthesizer. Or maybe it’s a journey through the corridors of my memory, if my memory was transplanted into Sam and Phil’s dreams.” Taken together, these 10 songs feel like a shared playground of discovery, with Amidon finding new ways for old songs to exist in the company of his two unfettered collaborators.
The trio imbue Reed’s Big Sky with the aplomb of Arthur Russell as fluorescent stretches of synthesizer and shuddering electronic drums interlock with acoustic guitars from Gendel and Amidon; traditional hymn Old Churchyard is stunningly rechristened Three Five as it tessellates rhythms and electronic layers to evoke a redemptive cloud break, while dishes and glasses clink on their joyful rendition of Ornette Coleman’s ode to communality Friends And Neighbours.
Lead single I’m On My Journey Home truly typifies the album’s approach giving the New England folk song first noted in the 1700s an authentic yet contemporary new life. Inspired by a “loose swing that I had not heard in other shape note singing recordings” that Amidon found on a rendition of the song by early 20th-century vocal group The Denson Quartet, the new recording sets the tone for the whole album. “I’m On My Journey Home was the first one we tried as a trio and it woke us up,” declares Amidon. “It set us down the path of making Salt River.”
The album follows a busy and rewarding creative period for Amidon, which has recently seen him covering Bon Iver’s Sable EP in full at Justin Vernon’s request at the EP’s London launch in October; coaching actors Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal in ballad singing for the forthcoming First World War movie The History Of Sound as well as collaborating on the film’s soundtrack; and teaming up with choreographer Michael Keegan Dolan on the new stage work Nobodaddy, which entwines Amidon’s music with modern dance and theatre. The multi-instrumentalist has also previously collaborated with the likes of The National, The Britten Sinfonia, his wife Beth Orton, Lonnie Holley, Marc Ribot, The Kronos Quartet and The Blind Boys of Alabama, among many more.”