Salem are famously shit and apathetic live. In fact, they're not shit live. Granted, they're pretty apathetic
in their demeanour, and aren't as edgy as you'd hope or expect. The hugeness of King Night isn't really captured in its live reproduction. But what they make doesn't require a great deal of technical skill so they're fighting a losing battle night after night in that sense. They do have a lot going for them though. Heather Marlatt's vocals are trippy and pretty, harmonising with the deep electronics and muddy beats on standouts Redlight and Sick.
It's in keeping with the studied carelessness – actually a lot less studied than many would have you believe – that vocalist Jack Donoghue can come
from sitting under a keyboard for a large part of the set to rap in slow motion right in the faces of the people at the front during Trapdoor. What's even more bizarre is how he can pull it off with a straight face. On record Salem really are quite a bit better – there's not much point trying to pretend otherwise. The fact that they sometimes even make music over the internet, living in different cities and putting the parts together digitally, gives us a clue that some of the organic feeling of a live performance is bound to be lost on them. However, this faintly self-aware, shady vocal style is presented much better live than on record. It doesn't feel incongruous at all, and there's an immersive darkness to it that Salem do very well, and use to make the actual experience of seeing them live better than listening to a record.
The atmosphere of the gig is very dank and heavy, managing to make do with a fairly small PA system. The whitewash of the small underground
space and the simple stageless set-up of electronics show us just how grimey Salem can get without any real squalor in sight. But you can probably guess that their real lifestyles aren't this pristine. Yes, the myths and the image of Salem are probably working their magic just as much as the music, but they do have some great songs, and they do it their own way. The attitude is so anti that they couldn't be aiming for success in any real terms, and that's a trait we'll never have enough of. Instead, we're taken on an intimate and dark journey into Salem's unique world of murky hedonism without actually having to suffer for it.
