The Salt Edge
by The High Wire

From MadhattanJack 12/04/2025 22:11 | #312001

The High Wire (a three-piece UK-Canadian collaboration based in London) have never really been a "proper" shoegaze-pop or dreampop band, but rather a very good (though obscure) conventional guitar-pop/chamber-pop band that turned the reverb up a couple more notches than most, and occasionally threw in a couple of big distorted guitar chords along with orchestral flourishes to make things interesting. This album (their fourth) is no exception, though if anything they're relying more on the orchestral flourishes, if not full string arrangements, than they have in the past. The songs also show more of a folk-rock influence than before, which is probably just an age thing, as they've been around for the better part of two decades. Still, their albums have been fairly consistent, though in this case the album title is problematic since "Salt Edge" is also the name of a Canadian "open global banking gateway" company. The company also appeared in 2019, so it's unclear as to which came first, that company or this album. Presumably the company has more money than the band, but the album still bears the same title, so maybe they don't see it as an existential threat to their business model. That could change though, now that you've read this review. (Edited)