A Texas indie pop combo built around a breezy amalgam that includes classic bossa nova, lo-fi charm, and jazzy Beach Boys -inspired arrangements, Summer Salt earned their audience through a series of increasingly well-received EPs that led up to the 2018 release of their full-length debut, Happy Camper. With only a small portion of their music appearing via small labels, the band notched millions of streams and built a significant buzz releasing their music themselves.
Formed as a duo while core members Matthew Terry (vocals/guitar) and Eugene Chung (drums) were still in high school, the two friends spent the later part of their teenage years playing small venues around the Denton and Dallas area. By the time they’d left the nest for Austin’s burgeoning indie scene in 2012, Summer Salt had begun to hone in on their ’60s-centric mixture of sunny melodic pop and harmonically driven songwriting. Their 2015 debut EP, Driving to Hawaii, put them on the map and yielded popular songs like “Sweet to Me” and the title track. A steady diet of EPs arrived over the next two years with 2017’s So Polite turning out another widely streamed favorite in the catchy “Candy Wrappers.” Working with Seattle’s Phil Ek ( Fleet Foxes , Band of Horses ) as producer, Summer Salt continued to expand their oeuvre, adding more Latin and African influences to their distinctive sound on their 2018 full-length, Happy Camper, which they supported with a major U.S. tour. Another EP, Honeyweed, was released in July of 2019. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi