Salt Peter 25: Limited Orange Vinyl 2LP Ruby

Salt Peter, by Ruby (AKA Lesley Rankine), was originally released in 1995 to critical acclaim under the trip-hop and electronica tags, quickly becoming the soundtrack to many a student, clubber and vinyl junkie’s life.

Roll on 25 years to find Rankine and her brother, Scott Firth (bassist with PIL) in Covid lockdown together following the death of their mother. What else would they do but make some music?

So, while noodling around with some ideas one night, Rankine remade one of her old Salt Peter songs and was so pleased with the result she decided to do the whole album.

Rather than simply remixing or remastering the original album she decided to rebuild it from the ground up with completely new production, arrangements and vocals.

With Scott’s additional production, engineering and mixing, Salt Peter 25 is a completely different album from the original, but still with Rankine’s distinctive vocals and her ear for the quirky and the dark. With densely textured sounds and uncompromising arrangements, Salt Peter has matured into an exciting new and unique animal.

Salt Peter 25 is a deeply personal album, created during a very difficult time and so the cover, fittingly, features a striking photo of Lesley and Scotts’ mother, as well as other family photos, again echoing the aesthetics of the original album.

Now released on delicious orange double vinyl with a beautiful gatefold sleeve, featuring additional art by Toronto based designer, Henry Faber.