Introducing SALT, the much-anticipated new record from Tatters & Rags, available on 12” translucent white vinyl and digital download April 19, 2016. Blending the garage, twang, and folk influences of their past work with a lush, full sound, SALT comes roaring out of the gate with the post-punk country foot-stomp of HELL, setting the tone for the rest of record: audacious, raucous, and melody-driven honky-tonk songs for the rust-belt, punctuated by moments of quiet romance. Over the course of six songs, SALT covers the subject of damnation (via escalator), drunk surgery, marital bliss (and lack thereof), floating, and lighthouses (among other things). These songs are energetic, sad, funny, and overall, infectious. TATTERS & RAGS Brooklyn ensemble Tatters and Rags have been kicking around the borough’s finest dives and honky-tonks since forming in the mid ‘00s, playing a brand of twang-heavy folk-rock that can be brooding and contemplative one minute, raucous and exuberant the next. Anchored by songwriter/guitarist-vocalist Juan Stacey, the band has undergone a variety of line-up changes, and though they’ve settled on the core unit of violinist Jim Altieri, Ross Johnson on drums, Lindsey Kaufman on vocals, and bassist Kevin Reilly, they’re never opposed to friends—both old and new—dropping by to lend a hand. While firmly situating themselves along the American roots axis, the quintet aren’t afraid to present a ramshackle mishmash of contrasting aesthetics and approaches—as prepared to wink in the direction of brainy compositional theory as they are to bash through a Martha and the Vandellas or George Jones cover. Lyrically Tatters & Rags tackle familiar themes of heartache, loneliness, and the bottle, but with a penchant for the traditional fable that suggests Harlan Howard on a bender with the Brothers Grimm.