Richard Sallis - Casino

​Richard Sallis

Casino
self-released; 2025

TOP ALBUM

By ​Dino DiMuro​​

Don't you love that feeling when you play a new album and it sounds like it was designed specifically for you? That's how I'm feeling with Casino by alternative artist Richard Sallis. 

Australian-born and sounding like it, Sallis was previously the frontman for a group called The Cameramen, releasing an album called "Good Things Do Happen" in 2017. His first solo album titled "Felix" was released earlier in 2025 to great reviews and lots of streams, placing among the top albums on Rate Your Music. "Casino" is said to be Sallis's most ambitious and personal album to date, being a full re-recording of a project written at 18 years old. Sallis says this was the lowest point of his life: "A period of homelessness, loneliness, and heartbreak." He turned to songwriting “to survive the day”, dreaming that someday his vision might become reality. Sallis hoped to preserve the raw emotion of the songs while reimagining them with the help of a new band.

The songs themselves are described as "emotionally rich, ambitious music: art rock and progressive pop, combining intimate storytelling with grand, orchestral arrangements and exploring themes of heartbreak, depression, and hope." Much of the recording took place in churches and cathedrals, with the natural reverb helping to create an expansive, cinematic sound. Sallis sings and plays guitars and organs, with his core band consisting of Daniel Altmann (drums/piano/backing vocals/percussion), Oscar Hose (bass/sax/percussion) and Katrin Romanova (string arrangements/cello/viola/violin/harp) along with several guest players.

"Perfect Light" caught me by surprise with the expansive organ backing, way before I had any idea Sallis had actually recorded in a church! Of course it brought to mind rock organ classics like "Titanic Overture" (Alice Cooper) and "A Day In The Life of a Tree" (Beach Boys). Sallis's vocals compare favorably to Peter Gabriel, and his backing singers add a hint of beauty to the raw emotions. The track surprisingly kicks into triple time with a full band and strings playing right to the edge of human ability while Sallis sings with abandon; I love his lyrical device of saying a line like "Everyone says that it just isn't worth it / I'm inclined to agree" and then adding "I AM."

"Table 41" continues in the same key, but is more of a traditional rock song based on chugging acoustic guitar, with Sallis singing more like Lou Barlow of Sebadoh. If you can love a song just for the arrangement, that's saying something! Guitars, piano, drums and vocals all lock in perfectly. I'm not even surprised to hear an orchestra at the fade! Circling back to early Alice Cooper, "Feels" has a jumpy tempo quite similar to the song "Apple Tree." Sallis takes the lead with an active vocal and propulsive piano with its share of blue notes. Love the horn section too!

"The Castle" continues with almost the same beat, with Sallis back to Gabriel vocal mode, but with another unique, psychedelic pop arrangement centered on double-time piano and cool, unexpected interjections from his band. A very memorable lyric: "Now I spend all my time breaking into laboratories." The track has a frenetic build and threatens to overload the entire universe before the ending!

"You're a Casino" (sort of the title track) is another all-out rocker with stabbing guitars played fast and hard but still creating melodic pop wonderment, aided by vocal harmonies on the choruses, another organ interlude and throbbing, insistent bass (and I hope the drummer got paid double-time!). This is the "preferred" track on Bandcamp and you can see why! "All Star Cast" is a big horn-heavy track, and we can thank Nick Lapine (horn arrangements) and guest sax player Tom de Prinse. Sallis this time seems to channel Mr. Bowie, and I'm there for it!  "The City" is notable in that Sallis finally decided to slow down and enjoy a slow ballad, and as you'd expect the string section does much of the heavy lifting; but it's also nice to hear more of the natural Sallis voice, singing in an almost conversational tone. The main lyric is lovely: "Today, I couldn't love you / I couldn't love you less / I couldn't love you more."

Another intimate track is "Contact Hours" which begins with an almost classical arrangement for acoustic guitar, bathed in gorgeous strings and helmed by Sallis in confessional mode. This one is the best of both worlds, as the energy slowly increases and we're soon back to rock. "Mandolin Gun" is the other "artist's choice track" and no surprise that it's got a driving mandolin at its center. This one is aggressive even by Sallis standards, having an angry chorus that recalls The Clash (but slightly undercut by Randall Boland's glockenspiel!). "Yesteryear" concludes the album with gentle acoustic guitar and piano simplicity that recalls Brian Wilson in the "SMiLE" era. 

I could write about this album for days, but I only have this small moment. You owe it to yourself to hear it this great and unique music!

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