Review: Kiiōtō - Black Salt (Kiiōtō Records)

The new album by Kiiōtō is definitely "spine-tingling" and unique as who'dthere have thought that there could be a jazz-noir folk Carole King, Khruangbin, Alice Coltrane influenced duo could be so good!

Fans of the single(s) 'Warpaint' and 'Little Axe' (see review HERE) will know what to expect on the 10 track album, 'Black Salt': or do they?

Mercury Music Prize nominated singer/songwriter Lou Rhodes, former lead vocalist and co-founder of Lamb, joined forces with award-winning songwriter and pianist Rohan Heath to form Kiiōtō after both had seemingly stepped away from making music. Kiiōtō’s second album, 'Black Salt', casts the net wide and deep in the stories it tells. Throughout, the arrangements remain spare and bold, leaning into jazz, broken beat and soul textures, with references as diverse as Carole King, Khruangbin and Alice Coltrane.

Written primarily in Kiiōtō’s home studio in North London, Black Salt features guest appearances from a melting pot of musicians, notably guitarist Hawi Gondwe (Amy Winehouse), double-bassist Andy Hamill (4 Hero, Carleen Anderson), drummer Mykey Wilson (Corrine Bailey Rae), and even some impromptu guitar by the one and only David Arnold.

Debut single Butterfly is a dark and brooding critique of a narcissist, its prowling bass, angular chords and bell motif creating a claustrophobic chill. In contrast, Zero Gravity - inspired by Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize winning novel “Orbital”- zooms out into space, reflecting upon the transformational experience of orbiting Earth, its heartbeat intro giving way to brush drums and stacked vocal refrain. Little Axe tells of the challenges of raising young men amidst the threat of violence in urban life, set to soulful guitar and congas, while White Noise highlights the hold of social media on the modern mind, in staccato rhythm and abstract piano. Lost Map reflects on the results of DNA tests the duo took in search of a deeper understanding of their disparate heritages, against a backdrop of spacious piano and muted trumpet. Closing track Five Eight, conveys the aching loss of Heath’s mother, Rhodes’ vocal stripped bare over shimmering Wurlitzer. Throughout, the arrangements remain spare and bold, leaning into jazz, broken beat and soul textures, with references as diverse as Carole King, Khruangbin and Alice Coltrane. The resulting album is impossible to define by genre, but is fused by the unique interplay of Heath’s melodic sensibilities and Rhodes inimitable voice.

Of the making of the album, Heath says: "The creation of Black Salt wasn’t an easy one. Yet it was precisely out of conflict, tension and introspection that it was born. Sometimes it felt like two planets colliding; a new star forged of chaos and heat, brighter than the sum of those destroyed." “Black Salt was a rite of passage,” adds Rhodes, “one that often took us to places way beyond our comfort zones. The result though, is an album we couldn’t be prouder of.”

It certainly is a special album that needs more than a couple of listen's to fall in love with it, but once you're there, you definitely wll.

PS. Special Album Launch Show at the perfect venue in London, Kings Place on May 1st, 2026.

Further UK & Europe dates TBC.

Album pre-order and gig tickets here: https://linktr.ee/kiioto

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: Black Salt | Kiiōtō

Artist: Kiiōtō

Title: Black Salt

Release date: 17th April, 2025

Label: Kiioto Records

Catalog Number: KIIOTOLP01NC

Format: Digital / Bandcamp