Before Tony McGuinness was Tony McGuinness of Above & Beyond, he was another artist, another music industry professional, another man entirely. Salt is the great lost solo project from the songwriter who would become the chief “male voice” lyricist in Above & Beyond. That is, as he puts it, “pretty much anything that a man is singing for Above & Beyond, I will have written it”. So, amongst other beloved favourites in the canon of the multi-million-selling global electronic music phenom, that’s Sun and Moon, Thing Called Love, Northern Soul, Gratitude, Blue Sky Action, Happiness Amplified as well as Satellite (with Justine Suissa) and Far From In Love. Now, at last, in 2024, the fans, the followers and the fascinated can hear the DNA of that songwriting mastery. The heart of Salt’s nine tracks were written by McGuinness in a heady six-month burst between 1995 and 1996, the result of classic ’90s whirlwind romance in a London that was popping off with the explosion of club culture in the UK. But the essential truth, the essential artistry, the essential honesty of these songs remain the same. Salt is the singer-songwriter sound of McGuinness feeling his way towards the musician he would become – and, as one third of Above & Beyond alongside Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki, the band they would become, too.