The experimental project Salt On Sunday explores boundaries betwixt reality and folklore, connections to one’s ancestors through memories and traditions, and blurs the lines between genre realms. Combining elements of doom, fuzz, grunge, and post-metal to produce a more unconventional sound, A Docket of Votive Offerings will be unveiled on the 28th of August, 2024.
Project mastermind Adam R. Bryant explains the concept behind the release: “[a] ‘votive offering’ is something you give up for something else, with no intention of getting it back, despite the effort it may have taken to acquire it. More often, the offering feels like an obligation, with an anxiousness about whether or not you’ll be able to appease whatever you are giving it to.”
Adam continues, “Salt On Sunday leans more heavily into the experimental spectrum, but is also more ‘music-y’ than my previous releases. The project started after taking some deep dives into my family history, growing up in the states and being raised by a Campanian grandmother. […] I’m undecided if this is a one-off project or not – only time will tell. Usually when I think I finished an idea though, I spawn more for it, so who knows? Most of the material for this project has been sitting on my computer for years and it is compiled of riffs or ideas that didn’t work in the previous projects, but the recording quality was good, so I wanted to do something with it.”
Pre-order A Docket of Votive Offerings here: https://saltonsunday.bandcamp.com/album/a-docket-of-votive-offerings
The opening track, ‘janara’, is titled after the term for the witches of the region of Campania. With his ancestors apparently accused of witchcraft, this song explores the entwining of folklore and regional traditions with one’s own family history. The following ‘ancestor veneration’, disrupts the typical function of the track list order. Adam explains, “[e]ssentially, the second track will tell you “okay, so the next 7 tracks are going to be death metal” or whatever. Because of that, I wanted the second track to strip any expectations. It’s uncomfortable, and the content of the album is uncomfortable because it’s based around a state of vulnerability that you feel you can’t come back from. For lyrics, I’m just reading off the arrest paperwork for my great, great grandmother’s witch accusation and jail time.”
‘Everything is numb and i can no longer tell the difference between time’ twists and warps genre influences in unexpected ways, “I thought it would be cool to blend a few things that didn’t seem like they should go together, but allow the vocal delivery to be the adhesive. It’s a krautrock, surf, beach boys kinda riff, that gets heavy distortion applied to it at the outro and blastbeats, turning it into a black metal track.” Drawing heavily from Swans The Seer, ‘transportable architecture’ is titled after the name of an art piece by the artist Do Ho Suh. ‘sotto il nocce di benevento’ is a drone piece, designed to give the album breathing space and deliver warmth through the musical texture.
Track six, ‘ti voglio bene’, is notably the only song on the album to follow a more traditional structure. The dominant lead guitars, provide a pathway through which to navigate the surrounding harsher tones. Embodying the themes of the album, ‘ai will write my obituary’ highlights the album’s concept, and includes accordion and mandolin, both performed by Adam for the first time on a track. A Docket of Votive Offerings concludes with the reflective ‘appropriate violence’. “It just feels right to end it on something that makes you think about the journey you just took”, Adam comments. “It’s got samples of The Godfather in it because that was the end of my ancestor’s journey to the states.”
About:
Salt On Sunday is musically inspired by the likes of Lungfish, Fugazi, Slint, and Nirvana, drawing from personal nostalgia for the ’90s. Adam’s ancestry is the key focus of this record. Bringing to life memories and family traditions, and exploring the folklore of his grandmother’s home in Benevento. A Docket of Votive Offerings also delves into the complicated feelings of home and belonging. Existing in a liminal position of being a part of multiple cultures and but not quite fully belonging in any one.
Salt On Sunday is one of many projects Adam has a hand in. He began with an experimental ambient metal project Pando with Matt Gagne, that released through the UK based Aesthetic Death Label. Adam subsequently released a few nature themed albums under the Cave Dweller moniker, with a new album set to release at the end of this year via Aesthetic Death. Additionally Adam produces meditative drone metal under the name Unfold, also with an album under Aesthetic Death expected sometime this summer.
Salt On Sunday is:
Adam R. Bryant
Track List:
1. janara – 3:28
2. ancestor veneration – 6:45
3. Everything is numb and i can no longer tell the difference between time – 5:22
4. transportable architecture – 4:36
5. sotto il nocce di benevento – 3:28
6. ti voglio bene – 3:55
7. ai will write my obituary – 5:57
8. appropriate violence – 9:24
Credits:
Written, performed and produced by Adam R. Bryant.