Salad
The Salad Way

One of this year's surprises comes precisely from where you least expect it.

It is brought to us by the London-based Salad with their new "The Salad Way," the third studio album from the britpop group led by the charming Dutch Marijne Van Der Vlugt (a former model and face of MTV Europe in the early nineties), which comes a full twenty-two years after their previous work under this name (the failing "Ice Cream," which sank the then-promising quintet's career and led to their break with major label Island Records).

Three years ago, in fact, Van Der Vlugt (alongside the band's guitarist Paul Kennedy) began performing live in an acoustic format under the name Salad Undressed and concluded the experience last year with a studio album of originals, "Good Love Bad Love."

Now back in electric formation (with original bassist Pete Brown and the same Kennedy joined by two new members), Salad revs up their engines without the pressure of replicating the numbers from twenty years ago; we are indeed talking about a group that, despite emerging exactly during the peak of the britpop movement (incidentally, when just being a half-decent Oasis cover band was enough to make the top 20), certainly caught the attention of both the public and the specialized press but went no further than moderate sales success.

This kind of mental freedom is beneficial for the British band, which breaks free from chains and crafts a varied, fresh, and absolutely irresistible album, almost always far from nostalgic drift (even when Salad reintroduce certain stylistics from back then, they do it with class and ease, as in "Your Face" or "Merryland," but especially in "Lovesick Energy," the best track of the bunch and absolutely on par with their old classic "Drink The Elixir"). Clearly, Marijne's vocal and interpretative talent makes the difference.

Stunning tracks like "In The Dark" (echoes of Sabbath and Pixies), the tight and danceable "Don’t Expect Things Not To Be Scary," and the delicate and classy ballad "Wayward Thinking" certify an excellent state of form, well anticipated by the excellent singles "Under The Wrapping Paper" and "You Got The Job."

Best track: Lovesick Energy