Salt On The Keys with Angie McMahon

In the continuing story of flukes, I stumbled into The Library, one of the venues of Bushstock on a hot June afternoon in 2018 to find a woman playing electric guitar and singing alone on a tiny stage, barely a hair above a small but captive audience. Her deep resonating guitar and passionate, yearning voice caused a small crowd of people to look in from outside as the room neared capacity. Not long after I got there, the woman on stage announced, 'At the risk of over-sharing, I've recently been sick,' which made everyone laugh. She wore a blue t-shirt which said 'Life is good' with a smiling person on the front of it. At the end of her set, the woman packed up her guitar and walked through the crowd, out of the door I came in without a backwards glance. This was Angie McMahon.

Image Credit: Chelsea Sienna

Angie maybe had a couple of songs out then, which wouldn't be collected on an album for more than a year. Even when I saw her perform in a sold-out gig at The Lexington in May 2019, there was no forthcoming announcement. I did hear more of these songs though, this time with a band. One of my favourites would be 'And I Am A Woman.'

'This one's called And I Am A Woman, I wrote it...I give this spiel everytime so some people might've heard it more than once, I'm sorry. It's about feminism and it's very important and I'm just gonna keep doing it. But basically I wrote it after a complicated pizza situation where I just wanted to eat my dinner, but I also wanted to explain to the person I was dating that they were really sexist. And I was really mad about their opinions. And I wasn't getting my anger across very well, but I was really trying to explain all this basic feminism theory that he should've just googled. The task was passed to me. And I internalised all the rage and then I went home and yelled. So basically the song is to me, it's about personal space. The conversation we were having was largely about spaces like this where - this seems like a really lovely space by the way, thank you all for making it so lovely. But sometimes you could be at a festival where people are being gropey or whatever. And he was like "hey boys are just like that". And I don't think we have to be subjected to gropey behaviour. So it's a song about personal space and being aware of the experiences of other people.'

This was definitely played in the Library that day, and had me straight away. Actually it was the song that made me want to know more. This song, as well as the others, translated well to solo performance. Angie McMahon's album, 'Salt' would come out in July 2019, featuring this and other singles - 'Pasta', 'Keeping Time' and 'Missing Me'. And now in October 2020, Angie follows this up with 'Piano Salt', featuring some piano reworkings of these songs, as well as a couple of covers too.

The lead single of Piano Salt is 'Soon'. The sound of the piano here isn't piercing, nor bright like a grand piano recorded in a large room. Instead it sounds like it was an upright piano recorded in a cabin while the silent wind rages outside. Angie's vocal is clearer than it's album counterpart. I prefer this new version, it has more character. The video is composed of two conflicting moods - the chaos of touring life, in this case supporting Hozier in North America, and life at home in lockdown. An excellent choice for the first single.

This version of 'Slow Mover' is indeed slower than the original. The piano accompaniment is more subtle than the previous track. The feel here is entirely different to the Salt version, making for less an explosion of emotion and instead an outpouring of sadness. The tiny vocal harmony in the chorus is the perfect addition to this otherwise sparse arrangement.

'Keeping Time' is the first track that features another instrument. You can hear a drummer keeping time gently in the background. This helps to maintain some of the vibe from the original, as well as the tempos being similar. Angie's touch at the piano is more assertive, and her voice is more projective. Once again the added backing vocals prove that this is not simply a live run-through, but a considered studio effort.

'The River' is the first cover featured on Piano Salt. This is the title track of Bruce Springsteen's double album released in 1980. An obvious stripped down recording in stark contrast to the full E Street Band arrangement, Angie's vocal tone suits covering Bruce. In absence of a harmonica, Angie takes that solo in the form of a whistle instead. It's pleasing to see McMahon performing this track at the piano with the hammers cushioned by a sheet in front of the strings. The glance up at the camera at the conclusion of the performance says 'that was the one'.

Image Credit: Jacqueline Justice

'I'm gonna invite a friend of mine up to the stage and he's a really special musician. This is Leif Vollebekk. Leif is from Canada, and I found his music a while ago. Maybe a couple of years ago. And then last year, and I listened to his album and I fell in love with it, and then last year, we were going on tour around Australia, and my manager Charlotte...we'll talk about that later, she knows the whole thing. She was like "Why don't we get Leif Vollebekk to support you" and I was like...we could try. She just sent him an email and said do you wanna come and support this tour and you were like yeah! And then we did this tour together and it was such a dream come true because Leif is one of my favourite musicians in the world and I'm not even saying that because he's here but because it's true.' - Angie

'And I just wanna say it sounds awful but I feel the same way.' - Leif

Leif Vollebekk didn't feature on the original version of 'If You Call' which closed the Salt album. However I was lucky enough to see them duet on another Bruce Springsteen cover at The Lexington. There he demonstrated exceptional guitar playing, as well as soft complimentary vocals with McMahon, the same way he does here. This is less of a duet, and more Vollebekk injecting extra soul into this record. Angie has already appeared on Vollebekk's latest album 'New Ways' adding backing vocals. McMahon would say of If You Call at The Lexington gig:

'This is a song that's about friendship and it's got some whistling in it, if you wanna whistle along. I always say that you can just do your own whistle, I'm gonna do my thing, and you do your thing. Think of like a bird call? The song is sort of- the sentiment behind the song is that thing that you want to be there for your friends and your life is gone full heavy and they need you. And you want them to know you're there if they need you even though you're kinda caught up in your own shit.'

Angie McMahon's second cover on Piano Salt is Lana Del Rey's 2012 epic album opener 'Born to Die'. Despite the enormous amount of layering on the album of the same name, Angie achieves a similar level of intensity with her performance. At times her vocal is barely above a whisper, but can easily switch in a moment that makes you forget the drum machine and orchestral overdubs of the original. 

'Pasta' is the final reworking on the Piano Salt EP. I don't think McMahon considered when writing this song that fans would gift her packets of dried pasta in response to it. Maybe if I wrote a song called 'Buy Me A House', someone might do that. One can dream. This version of Pasta still features the delicate take on the lines 'I've been lost, I've been lost for a while' during the first chorus. Again, this one benefits from gentle vocal harmonies and subtle time-keeping on hi-hats. The song from 'How am I simultaneously on top of someone's pedestal and also underneath someone else's shoe?' isn't so fast and jumpy like it is in the original, but is that what the listener would really want? Instead of the reckless abandon of the album version, this one drives the point home of 'I've been lost for a while'.

If you liked listening to Piano Salt, consider watching Angie McMahon's piano concert that originally aired back in July here. With support from Jensen McRae and time-zones to suit wherever you are, it's the closest you can get to seeing Angie McMahon right now. I was able to ask Angie a few questions relating to Piano Salt - a special thank you goes out to Charlotte Abroms and for Angie in taking her time to answer these!

1. I first saw you perform at The Library for Bushstock in London during the summer of 2018. How does playing those larger theatres depicted in the 'Soon' video compare with playing a tiny room like that? 

Oh that Library gig was actually quite scary, because it was so intimate! I was sooo sweaty! You can see the thoughts that cross people's faces. Bigger rooms are just scary in a different way maybe, when everyone is sitting down and you're not sure how much you're getting through to them. I really like the variety. I like getting to play any type of room and trying to fill it with my yelling. 

2. You've said that the piano version of 'Soon' was almost on the 'Salt' album, are there other tracks like that which almost made the cut, but didn't?

That was the main one! That was the only song that had two distinct versions. I honestly didn't have any other songs ready that I loved. When we went in to record the album, those were all the decent songs that I had! 

3. For the online concert, your piano strings are covered with a sheet, what was the reason for that?

That is the work of the studio master, Jono Steer. He built the studio that we recorded the concert in (it's called The Perch!), and he's a very talented person, especially when it comes to sound. The sheet is a silk scarf I think, and it was to mute the sound of the piano to be more gentle. I really wanted to replicate the sound of old lullabies, and like some Tom Waits piano sound, I just wanted it to be very soft. So that's why. 

4. It's been lovely seeing you at the piano when your concert staple is electric guitar! Can fans expect to see more piano/keyboard in your shows in the future?

Thank you! Yeah I think so, it's a little easier to move around on stage with the guitar, but I love to play the keys. Our latest band addition is my friend Liv Hally, who sings in her own band called Oh Pep! and she is so awesome. She's been playing keys and synth, but her first instrument is guitar I'm pretty sure. We might switch it up a bit. Guess we'll see what happens in rehearsal when there are new songs! 

5. Looking to the future, is there anything you can tell us about any new music you've written?

I've just been taking lots of time to ramble into my iPhone and make lots of weird demos, there's almost no full songs yet, I'm in a really drawn out writing and creating stage. So I'm not sure when they'll be finished, but I'm just hoping it comes together soon into a second album. We're not allowed to rehearse or record together in Melbourne at the moment, we're having to stay very isolated, so it's going to be a while before we can do any playing. Just writing a lot in my room! 

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Listen to Angie McMahon's Piano Salt EP in your preferred format here.

Follow Angie McMahon on instagram @angiemcmahon, @angiemcmahonmusic on facebook and @angie_mcmahon on twitter.