Saloon

The now defunct Reading-based Saloon spent four years quietly building a following among John Peel's indie masses through a string of low-key singles before releasing their debut album '(This Is) What We Call Progress' in 2002. Like Track And Field cohorts Tompaulin, Saloon have a passion for lilting melodies and docile guitar 'n string symphonies, but where the former often find themselves aligned with Belle and Sebastian, Saloon veer off in the direction of Stereolab and Movietone with celestial Moog washes and shyly seductive multilingual lyrics. Wonderfully off-kilter tracks "My Everyday Silver" and live fave "Girls Are The New Boys" tread cosmic paths but fall on just the right side of kitsch, and Bicycle Thieves" swoons while deftly sidestepping twee territory. Considering Track And Field's indier-than-thou reputation, if this is progress, then Saloon's definition is fine by us. (This Is) What We Call Progress was followed in 2003 by If We Meet in the Future, which was less ambient than its predecessor, but still a finely crafted work. Saloon split following this album, but have since released a collection of early works and B-sides, 'Lo-Fi Sounds, Hi-Fi Heart'.

Original Leslie Gilotti Amazon entry expanded by Andrew Gibb.