Salem - King Night
- Written by Holly Arrowsmith
The music press have been collectively slipping in their own juices over a clutch of new genres this year. We’re probably all sick to the back teeth of hearing about chillwave now, and when I first heard the term ‘witch house’ being used, I thought I was going a bit mental. Supposedly, Salem are leaders of the coven, and their debut King Night is certainly bewitching, although sometimes not for the right reasons.
Salem’s musical sound hasn’t changed much from their EP, Yes I Smoke Crack - there’s still all the thrilling, woozy fear coming through, dubsteppy beats and beautiful soundscapes. It’s all wonderfully broody and melancholic, end-of-the-worldly… then Jack Donoghue starts rapping, and it all goes out of the window. He sounds as if he has the kind of cold that’d have you buying shares in Kleenex, and it just feels pretty uncomfortable. Compared to how chilling and beguiling Heather Marlatt’s vocals are, it all just sounds weirdly funny. Thankfully, this only crops up two or three times across the album, but it’s enough to make you cringe.
Awful MC scenes aside, Salem thankfully live up to the hype surrounding them. Sometimes it’s a little over-the-top (the sense of doom on the title track could be put against the theme from Psycho in the creepy stakes), but the album really comes into its own when they tone down the shtick a little. The more atmospheric, less booming tracks on King Night are where it really shines - the delicate electronica on ‘Frost’ is eerily calm despite the thundering bass, and like the best parts of a horror soundtrack, it leaves you on edge in terms of what’s going to happen next. It contrasts completely with the likes of ‘Sick’, where it sounds like the bass has been turned up to eleven to make it sound threatening, and just ends up sounding about as scary and provocative as the Honey Monster looks.
For the most part, King Night isn’t terrible - it has some truly breathtaking, pretty soundscapes going on, springy beats and blasts of bass and distortion that you can feel in your chest. But yeah, Jack Donoghue, if you’re reading, it’s probably best to keep your mouth shut and concentrate on making wonderful, other worldly noises instead. Witches are meant to be scary, not comedy rap stars.