Auscultate (album)

Singer Nina Ramsby wrote and sang in English, as she felt it was a more tuneful and more cryptic language.[1] All of the songs are about personal relationships.[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The Evening Post	[9]
The Guardian	[10]
Knoxville News Sentinel	[11]
Los Angeles Times	[12]
Pitchfork	8.2/10[4]

Trouser Press wrote that Ramsby "is a controlled, forceful singer with no perceptible accent, a complicated persona (the sketchy lyrics say a lot) and emotion to burn."[13] Spin thought that "on 'Bluster', metal riffing pile-drives into flowing-pop choruses, while on 'So', doleful acoustic guitars buffet broken rhythms."[14] The Los Angeles Times deemed the album "jagged, volatile songs with just enough of an arty edge to add intrigue."[12] The Chicago Tribune opined that Salt "cobbles together skewed tunes with prickly, saw-toothed riffs, tuneful pop melodies and agitated power chords."[15]

The Knoxville News Sentinel determined that Salt "embodies the vitriol typical of progressive music's more contentious woman-led bands ... But Ramsby, backed by bassist Daniel Ewerman and drummer Jim Tegman, also reveals a subtlety not often heard from the likes of Hole."[11] The Evening Post called the band a "trio of brutal power and uncommon melodic ability," writing: "Driven hard by a muscle-packed rhythm section, the band tempers tough cred with some deft off-centre flourishes, most of them courtesy of Ramsby's slacker-goddess vocals and her gender-bending stiff-arm guitar playing."[9] The Guardian opined that "ringing choruses help a bit—the mantric repetition of 'You punish me as a boy' on 'Honour Me' is a beaut—but there's nothing here to distinguish them from the competition."[10]