salute and Sam Gellaitry by Dan Franco
NEW ALBUM TRUE MAGIC DUE JULY 12TH VIA NINJA TUNE
“MAYBE IT’S U” OUT NOW
Vienna by way of Manchester DJ and producer, salute, returns for a collaboration with Scottish producer and singer Sam Gellaitry on a new single “maybe it’s u.” This latest offering follows previously released tracks “saving flowers” (with Rina Sawayama) and “system,” all of which will be included on salute’s forthcoming album TRUE MAGIC due July 12th on Ninja Tune. “maybe it’s u” features slick vocals from Sam Gellaitry alongside lush production, while providing glimpses of the musical range TRUE MAGIC has in store. Alongside Sam Gellaitry and Rina Sawayama, the album is set to feature Disclosure, Empress Of, Karma Kid, and Léa Sen, among others and will see a physical release on cassette, CD, and vinyl, all of which will be available for purchase here.
TRUE MAGIC sees salute embrace a more collaborative approach, renting a house in the countryside to work on the album with their peers. “I took a pop approach to the record,” says salute. “I went in quite blindly just with some loops and ideas but there’s much more of a focus on songwriting and collaboration on this album. In dance music there always seems to be this focus on doing everything yourself but I wanted to get a team around me to develop the ideas I had. One thing I’m really proud of is how organic the work with the collaborators is. I’ve managed to get such a breadth of amazing people on the record.”
Taking aesthetic and auditory inspiration from old Japanese car adverts, which salute spent hours trawling through YouTube archives to find, they developed a concept for the album of driving an old JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car in a race called TRUE MAGIC. “Watching old TV recordings my parents made on VHS led me to comfort watch old ad compilations on Youtube” they commented, “then eventually old car ads, and finally I stumbled upon old Japanese car ads through a rabbit hole.” This highly visual concept helped propel the sonics of the album forward and give the album a sense of driving momentum.
The album announcement follows their first-ever nomination at the 2024 MOBO Awards for Best Electronic/Dance Act after the release of Felix’s EP Shield, which received praise from the likes of The FADER who described the music as “dreamy” and Clash who proclaimed the project as, “Surging with Spring-like energy.” Shield followed earlier singles “Joy” and “Therapy” as well as co-signs from artists including Four Tet, DJ Seinfeld, Floating Points, Mall Grab, Daphni, Skrillex, Fred Again and more, which solidified them as a cult sensation and set the stage for a bigger album to come.
salute was first initiated into the UK club scene at 18 after moving to Brighton and then Manchester. There, they were given real exposure to club culture, which beforehand, had only been limited to videos on YouTube and Boiler Room. From here they refined their signature sound, pulling from their newfound understanding of genres like grime, garage, and dubstep.
salute has continued to build on their impressive live catalog, including a set at Coachella’s Do Lab stage, Boiler Room Melbourne and four sets at Glastonbury. They made their debut in Asia to an incredible reception, selling out shows in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. The shows were b2b with Yung Singh and the Tokyo show saw Rina Sawayama show up as a surprise guest when salute played their collaborative track “saving flowers” to a crowd for the first time. salute has also recently performed with Disclosure in Colombia and Berlin, Mall Gab in London, Hudson Mohawke in LA and supported Jungle on their US tour. Earlier this month, salute performed at Four Tet & Friends Festival and at the Elsewhere rooftop b2b with DJ Seinfeld in NY before heading on their full European run with stops through Manchester, London, Paris, and Barcelona among many others.
Listen to “maybe it’s u” (with Sam Gellaitry) above, find tour routing details below, and stay tuned for more from salute coming soon.
Upcoming Live Dates
06/02 – Dublin, Ireland @ Forbidden Fruit
06/09 – Manchester, England @ Parklife
07/28 – London, England @ Junction 2
08/02 – Copenhagen, DE @ O Days
08/03 – Vienna, Austria @ Paradise Garten
08/10 – Barcelona, Spain @ Brunch
08/11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Loveland
08/16 – Hamburg, GER @ Dockville
08/22 – Lincoln, England @ Lost Village
06/09 – Dhermi, Albania @ ION
salute
TRUE MAGIC
July 12, 2024
Ninja Tune
1. start
2. saving flowers (with Rina Sawayama)
3. reason (with Karma Kid)
4. lift off! (with Disclosure)
5. maybe it’s u (with Sam Gellaitry)
6. go! (with なかむらみなみ)
7. true magic, bonus round
8. one of those nights (with Empress Of)
9. move faster…
10. system
11. softly (with Léa Sen)
12. luv stuck (with piri)
13. perfect (with LEILAH)
14. drive (with LEILAH)
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