When I bought the 1997 Coldcut CD Let Us Play, one of the most intriguing tracks (on an album stuffed full of intriguing tracks) featured one Salena Saliva. I'd never heard (of) her prior to this, but the track, Noah's Toilet, was knowing, aloof and sonically inventive. Plus, it featured a drawling, bored, clearly posh and very articulate female voice, and long-time readers will know I'm a total sucker for these (cf. Vivien Goldman, Deborah Evans-Strickland, Janine Rainforth...).
Salena appeared again on the speedily-issued follow-up to Let Us Play, entitled Let Us Replay (see what they did there?), this time narrating the Tale of Miss Virginia Epitome. Blimey, I thought, she's one to watch. And then I promptly forgot about her.
Until last week, when she popped into my head again (God knows why) and I decided to try and catch up with her career. Between then and now, she's dropped the pseudonym, and goes by the name Salena Godden. She's completed an autobiography of sorts (though it doesn't seem to have been released yet), contributed to various short story anthologies, and in 2007, released an album, Hunger's the Best Sauce, as one half of Saltpeter- the other half being Peter Coyte (and did you see what they did there?). Their salty ouevre picks up where Godden and Coldcut left off 10 years earlier, with tales of drinking, drugging and casual sex, and the perils therein, though the music has shifted from downtempo electronica to uptempo ska-pop. Godden's lyrical dexterity and raunchy humour are still intact, especially on tracks like Your Wife and I'm Not Gay But...
So, recommended then. Check 'em out on Spotify here. See Salena performing poetry below. Am I allowed to say "phwoar"? No? Ok, sorry.
And buy her books here...
Download Noah's Toilet by Coldcut and Salena Saliva (mp3) (deleted Dec 11)
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