Brighton-Based Musician SALT ASHES Discusses Her Recently Released Debut Album And More!

Brighton-based singer SALT ASHES aka Veiga Sanchez, lover of UK electronic music, released her debut album on July 15th.

For fans of Kylie Minogue, Tove Lo, Grimes, and Lykkie Li, her self-titled debut album, produced by Daniel Fridholm (AKA Cruelty) and Rob Irving, bursts into the dance music scene with her signature darks songs and melodies with a zeitgeist club sound, all of which inspired by Giorgio Moroder’s blend of disco and epic dark atmospheres.

In 2014 she released singles “Somebody” and “If You Let Me Go,” which reached the Top 5 on both Billboard and Music Week Dance Charts. She also won MTVU Freshmen and MTV IGGY’s ‘Artist of the Week’ for “If You Let Me Go.” In 2015, she continued to build her unique blend of dark synth-pop with her single “Raided,” a BBC Introducing and Spotify fan favorite, having been play-listed by 1Xtra. The singer also contributed her writing and vocal talents on label-mate Kristian Nairn’s single entitled “4Love,” and rising producer CRUELS’ single “Give It Up,” both of which received massive support worldwide.

Learn more about Salt Ashes in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Now that we are more then half-way through 2016, what are some words you would use to describe it? What were some of the highlights of 2015 for you and your music?

This year has been very exciting so far. I’ve signed a record and publishing deal as well as released my debut album… So I’ll say it’s been pretty great up to now.

Last year was the first of a couple of awesome things like going to New York for the first time for meetings and playing at Heaven in London. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

Growing up, did you all always want to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory? How exactly did you come up with your artist name?

I sang from the moment I was able to as a child and I have videos of me as a 3 year old singing and creating songs. I always wanted to be a singer and then songwriting found me a bit later on.

I saw the name about 5 years ago scratched on the side of an old wooden canoe on Brighton Beach. A year later when I was coming up with a stage name that came to mind as I felt quite connected to it, like, my lyric style could be summed up at the time by those two words or something.

You recently put out your debut album. What did that feel like? How long had you been working on it?

It was a massive moment for me and also a huge relief. I wrote the tracks on the album across about 5 years, not anticipating an album release, but just writing for the sake of it and to release a few singles and potentially (what I thought at the time) an EP. I soon decided I wanted to release that body of work as an album and have it out there for the world to listen to in one go which I’m glad I did.

How did you get involved with Radikal Records? Why do you think this is the right place for you and your music?

Radikal heard one of my tracks on Record Of The Day a few years back and contacted me through there. It’s always felt like the right fit and they are big fans of the music which I feel is essential for drive and passion to push the music out there.

Can you talk about the collection’s lead single “Save It”? Where did the inspiration for it come from?

This was a track I co-wrote with Rob Irving in 2 sessions I think it was. It really just sprung out of no where… We started with the bass line, then after singing nonsense over it for a while felt we wanted a touch of a gospel feel in the vocals somewhere. The lyrics soon flowed out, but there really wasn’t a situation that it was inspired from.

Who are some of your favorite artists and what bands continue to inspire Salt Ashes? Who would you love to work with in the future?

My favorite artists of all time are Daft Punk, Change, Giorgio Moroder, Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush, Bjork. 

At the moment I’m really inspired by NAO, Lindstrøm, Daniel Avery, MØ, Whitney.

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

I hope that each person takes something different from the songs. A song should be personal to you and I hope that my songs can relate to everyone in some way.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourself or your music?

Not really. I’m still learning about myself so hopefully everyone will learn with me.