In January 2024, the Cedar Falls indie pop trio Salt Fox found themselves heading to Texas for a gig. Right before departing, Kyle, a friend of a friend that the band had never met, showed up to be the roadie for the trip and became the inspiration for the title of the band’s new album.
“Over the course of the week long trip, Kyle laid out the most beautiful framework of friendship, loyalty, happiness and never-ending optimism,” the band explained in an email. “He sat way in the back of the tour van, so every hour or so we’d yell, ‘Miss ya, Kyle!’ Without hesitation, he’d yell back with a cheerful, ‘Love you, boys!’ It became our motto. We talked about him constantly following the trip, and the motto seemed like a perfect fit to this new album. Insane optimism.”
A feature by IPR’s Tony Dehner last year describes the band’s beginnings transitioning from an acoustic outfit to their current electronic beats-and-guitars format. Jacob Pauli, who plays synths, beats and backing vocals, brought some MIDI demos to the rest of the band and, armed with a scrawled manifesto guitarist Andy Fuchtman found while cleaning a vacated apartment, the band started working on songs that would become their 2022 EP Places.
Salt Fox continued the tradition of focusing on creating music videos for their new songs with the first of these being “Oak Tree.” The signature reaching, seductive vocals from Michael Rogers ride over a bubbling bass and drum, darting analog synth and clean guitar riffs hitting on the half beat. The chorus nicks a bit of Black Eyed Peas: “We got that boom boom now / We got that honey out / Back at the oak tree / That was the old me.” Which isn’t to say that Salt Fox is somehow “two-thousand and late.” On the contrary, Miss You, Kyle/Love Ya, Boys! achieves a balance of catchy and current pop hooks with a nod to ’90s R&B. The fact that the band primarily works with the intention of releasing songs as videos speaks to their confidence in them as singles.
The album opener “Get Down” skates towards a retro disco funk vibe. Rogers’ high-reaching tenor that shifts to falsetto recalls sweaty club nights of the past. The next song “Leave It On” has a great opening segue from the minimal end of the previous track. In the left channel there is a percussion loop with pulsing analog synth leading to a bass synth. Chillwave acts like Tame Impala or Toro y Moi are simpatico pairing suggestions for Salt Fox, and any party playlist should include them.
The videos that came out this summer for “Oak Tree,” “Get Down,” “Stars,” and “Soldier” served as an appetizer for the full album, and Since Miss You, Kyle/Love Ya, Boys! was posted to streaming services last month, it has been in constant rotation for me. Even though this release is partially a compilation of these songs, the album works as a start-to-finish listen.
It’s difficult to compartmentalize Salt Fox. Rogers quotes from the manifesto he found early in the band’s formation: “We have two #1 rules. Have fun at all times and always go with your first mind.” It’s this way of thinking and acting that has had strong creative yields. In addition to the songs, the videos and live performances, the band spearheads the Lost Woods festival in Cedar Falls, which was covered in Little Village, and out of that came a short film shot by noted director Ben Hagarty. I have no idea what direction the band is taking next, but I’m anxious to see it.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s December 2024 issue.
