"Pinch of Salt" by Katherine Abbott
Review
So after last week's guerilla release of "Pure" and "Carnage", now we have the chance to hear Katherine Abbott's scheduled new single "Pinch of Salt" in all of its glory.
It took guts to unleash two songs that strong just before a set piece but under the ethereal surface of her songs, Katherine always manifests strength of purpose and the courage to take on tough subjects.
She of course knew precisely what she was doing: "Pinch of Salt" is in no way competing with her other songs of the week: it is much closer to the "alternative rock" label which adheres to her songs when you buy them (which I trust you will).
It's a bit obvious but I think it's legitimate to ponder whether Katherine's recent work as part of a sort of roots/folk-rock band (WLDFLWRS) has played a part in her creating a song which sounds like this, though it's perfectly possible that it dates from further back. I did quiz her on the song but she was adamant that she'd like you to engage with it purely on its own many merits & I can definitely respect that.
As perhaps with "Carnage", Katherine delves into vocabulary & ideas less visited in popular music and I salute her for this. It's a heavy song especially in the context of her previously released work and the pulsating arrangement gives it an almost sinister aspect at times: it's good to hear such a prominent bassline on one of her singles: not something we've encountered much before.
For such a positive songwriter, the innate cynicism in the lyric is another novelty but why should she not be expected to make judgements on the deficiencies in veracity she observes in others? Calling out hypocrisy sounds good to me.
Katherine lives by her principles & doesn't much respect those who "twist and turn" trying to please all sides as well as talking the talk but not demonstrating equivalent action. And I think I can detect inter-personal politics in the take down as well as broader ethics.
Strong stuff & for Katherine it's her most polemical song to date: but it is not purely judgemental & dismissive: it offers the subject a roadmap to put their house in order if they possess or can summon up the necessary moral strength.
So one might say (I think many will say) that "Pinch of Salt" is Katherine's most powerful song to date. I'm not sure how one measures an artist's "best" but what I do think is that it can sit alongside the likes of "Pure" as a contender in a wholly uncompetitive way. There is room for both in her body of work & so there should be. Diversity adds a potency of its own.
