salamander Announce Debut LP & Share 'xylem' Single

Brooklyn-based salamander (Leo Frampton, PJ Hunter, and Ben Verde) announce details for their forthcoming debut LP, [container], due October 18 via all DSPs.

To celebrate the announcement today, the band additionally shares the record's second single, "xylem" (a follow-up to their previously released track "ride"), alongside a visualizer created by Linnea Nugent.

"xylem" is a hypnotic pop-meditation, with pretty, ringing melodies that dance over a pensive, moody vocal line, and an earthquaking sub-bass. Just like every salamander song to date, the writing process of "xylem” was completely unique. Leo, who lived with PJ at the time, came home from a bike ride and started looping an acoustic guitar riff.

PJ took out his laptop and started composing a beat in real time to Leo’s guitar playing. Once the main parts and melodies were arranged, Cody Zusman (Moxie Pocket, You Bite With That) set up the band for live instrumentation with gigantic guitar tones and drum sounds in a large resonating space.

Later in the process, the band recorded vocals and grand Piano with producer Carlos Hernandez in Brooklyn, who went on to mix the track. Lyris Faren (T-rextasy, Talulah Paisley) and Arden Yonkers (Wild Pink, Matthew Danger Lippman, Milkweed) provided backup vocals. The song was mastered by Aidan Elias at CORPUS Studio. 

As Leo Frampton wrote on the track: "For a while as a kid, I could not stop thinking about the end of life, and how some day, my consciousness would cease. My parents and grandparents tried their best to console me and turn around my 10 year old angst as I became increasingly obsessed with the same dark, fruitless subject matter. This song sprouted from the way I have made peace with this fear, trying to see my own life and generation as part of a cycle bigger and smaller than myself.

I wrote the lyrics during springtime, which is the essence of the chords as well. I like the idea that people can interpret 'place' differently, zoomed in or out as far as they like. The place they love, the place they want to be instead of the place they love, the actual place they will eventually end up.

On an acoustic guitar alone, the vibe of this song may have been mostly subdued, but through the band, it underwent an amazing transformation. I think the combination of PJ’s astral ableton beat, his angular bassline, and Ben’s spacious drums give it a gigantic, sublime quality that brings it to a whole other plane of power and effect."

PJ Hunter continued: "This beat was an exercise in recycling deconstruction and regeneration, like so many beats are. It feels seismic and organic, lush but geometric, like getting lost in the stems. I was trying to compliment the lyrical themes and add percussive movement to the song. As a producer, I'm really proud of this track; I feel like it's a biome of its own. It's very reflective of how I approach the lifespan of digital materials and crafting a beat-structure for a song that Leo penned was an interesting process. It was also fun to add serpentine guitar melodies."

Listen to salamander's newest single, "xylem," out now via all DSPs. Stay tuned for [container], out October 18.

Photo Credit: Dan Dickerman

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