SALT was originally composed for an immersive theater performance which retells the Euripides myth of Medea. Featuring dance, actors, food, and even scent, the performance breaks open this iconic tragedy by pitting the audience against each other and asking them to choose a side while witnessing a family’s unraveling. Directed by LA based Volta Collective, SALT first premiered in Los Angeles to sold-out shows and has since toured internationally to Cyprus, the UK, and now New York.

SALT

a full length album of original compositions inspired by the Greek tragedy of Medea, composed and performed by Melissa Achten & Eli Klausner

The music of SALT tells a story of chaos in love through layered textures of noise, drone, and melodic string lines. Harp is the main driver of melodic material, turned to a scale from a surviving 4th century b.c. musical fragment of the Greek tragedy “Orestes” by Euripides. This microtonal refrain is the basis for both Jason and Medea’s themes, evoking palpable tension and dissonance. Bells, chimes, and other gong-like sounds repeat on a loop – ominous yet hypnotic. The score also includes hand-built instruments and recordings of symbolically charged objects: wine-filled glasses, the crackle and hiss of an uncontrolled fire, and the scraping of a knife across grains of salt . . .