Madeline Salter
Fifteen-year-old St. John’s singer releases first EP
She doesn’t know what, how or where, but it’s no question Madeline Salter will work in the music industry after she finishes high school.
“I know that’s something I need to do,” she said. “Then again, I don’t know exactly where that’s going to take me yet.”
The 15-year-old, St. John’sbased pop singer, who goes simply by Madeline, released her first self-titled EP July 30. Her voice and performance are filled with the kind of determination and confidence rarely seen in someone who just graduated from junior high.
The seven songs that make up the EP were co-written and produced by former “Canadian Idol” judge and vocal coach, Zack Werner.
While they were written mostly on acoustic guitar, once the duo entered the studio, synthesizers, piano, electric drums, effected guitars and background vocals were layered over Madeline’s voice.
Her love of singers like Avril Lavigne — a singer whose first commercial hit, “Complicated,” was released three years before Salter was born — is obvious in a song like “Put Your Heart In.” In the intro, a washy and slightly distorted guitar, sounding as if it is amplified but behind a closed door, is joined only by voice and a simple drumbeat. As the second verse cuts in, the door swings open, the guitar regains its full lustre and synthesized bass is thrown into this mix.
Salter’s mother, Lynn Hammond,
said putting out an album out during a pandemic isn’t ideal for her daughter, but they’re excited regardless.
“I’m very impressed with her efforts throughout it all,” she said. “I never had to push her to practise. It’s absolutely self-driven.”