Born in France, raised in Leipzig and now living in Bern, Aino Salto had the feeling for years that she ‘ had to vomit something musical’, as she describes it in her own words.
‘Something had to come out. But it wasn't clear what that was. Until I wailed the music for my first album into the piano in autumn 2023’.
‘Imagine People as Adolescent Birds’ is a collection of seven powerful songs, it is music about sisterhood and feminist mushroom networks (‘Mother Mushroom’), anger (‘Anger’) and life as the feeling of looking at power lines while driving (‘Powerlines’). The music comes from the bottom of the heart, from flugelhorn, double bass, keys and drums, from the back of the throat. Vomit drips out of every syllable, a mixture of fear, naivety, hopeless optimism and raspberry flavour:
«And we found a place in the spirits of Lourdes, Elizabeth and Bina, mothers of thought, sirens of Athena / We have the numbers down, no reason to feel deadened / If the age of the Earth is a year, humanity is 23 minutes old and patriarchy not even a second.» («Mother Mushroom»)
‘Imagine People as Adolescent Birds’ is therefore a kind of battle cry, wrapped up in bittersweet melodies. Pop oozes from complex arrangements - it feels magical to hear how light this music seems when it conveys so much. Together with her highly experienced companions Paul Butscher (ARBRE, etc.), Luzius Schuler (Dino Brandão, etc.), Tabea Kind (EDNA, etc.) and Eddy Sonnenschein (Eddy Sonnenschein's TIME, etc.), Sonia (BUREAU BUREAU, etc.) now brings her solo project Aino Salto to life: ‘
I thought to myself: I feel so bad so often in view of the world, and so does everyone else - so what do we need now? Happy songs, I thought, or at least energetic stuff without resignation, without ignoring the world, but also without hopeless crying.’
«Everything changes all the goddamn time /
Shadows from walls turn to chalk / you write another line.»
(«Everything All At Once»)
