Kim Salmon’s Smoked Salmon release their second album Totally Sick!! today, continuing the veteran songwriter’s recent burst of activity following solo shows and the Surreal Science tour featuring both The Scientists and The Surrealists.
The band describes Totally Sick!! as “songs for when you’re not feeling so good,” built around themes of sickness, medicine and recovery, while also revisiting the dark humour and sharp-edged rock’n’roll that have long defined Salmon’s work. “Fix Me Up, There’s A Virus Going Round, cos Everybody’s Out Of Town so get into your Freudian Slippers while Smoked Salmon bring you their catchiest strains,” the band says of the record.
Second single “Fully Sick and Tired” shifts slightly away from the album’s broader medical theme, focusing instead on “that great Aussie tradition of taking a sickie.” Written specifically for the album by Salmon and the band, the track is described as “a solid slab of rock with pop hooks to boot,” combining driving guitars with a dry spoken-word interlude.
Smoked Salmon began as a flexible live and recording outfit assembled by Salmon after a 2020 benefit show, bringing together musicians from Melbourne, regional Australia and overseas. Since then, the project has become a vehicle for both new material and reinterpretations of songs spanning Salmon’s catalogue with the Scientists, Surrealists and beyond.
Totally Sick!! is available now from Cheersquad Records & Tapes digitally as well as on limited “spewy green” and black 12” vinyl editions.